Life in Buffalo: Day By Day

November 17 Wednesday – Sam lectured in Gothic Hall, Danvers, Mass. [MTPO].

November 17 Thursday – Sam telegraphed Elisha Bliss:

November 18 Friday – Elisha Bliss wrote to Sam.

Dr Clemens, / Have I been so stupid, as not to say to you I expect your brother so far as we are concerned. I thought I had said so or as much, & was waiting for report, daily as to his time of arrival &c—

He tells a good yarn in the slip sent. We will give him scope for his talent here— [MTPO].

November   – Sometime during the month (probably in the first half), G.M. Baker of Boston made a formal group  photograph of Sam, Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw 1818-1885) and  Petroleum V. Nasby (David Ross Locke 1833-1888) [MTP].

November, mid – Sam, visited unannounced the offices of The Atlantic Monthly at 124 Tremont Street in Boston to thank the unsigned reviewer of Innocents Abroad for a very positive review. This is the famous first meeting between William Dean Howells (who wrote the review) and Sam Clemens. Sam first saw James T. Fields, who had hired Howells.

November – In the Galaxy for this month—MARK TWAIN’S MEMORANDA  – Included:

“Riley – Newspaper Correspondent”
“Goldsmith’s Friend Abroad Again, Letters V – VI”
“A Reminiscence of the Back Settlements”
“A General Reply”
“Favors from Correspondents”

Also a Special Feature not in Memoranda: “Mark Twain’s Map of Paris” [Schmidt].

November 19 Friday – In Boston prior to his lecture, Sam wrote to Mary Mason Fairbanks.

November 19 Saturday – About this day, Sam wrote to brother Orion on the Nov. 17 of Elisha Bliss:

[unknown number of words missing]

November 2 Tuesday – Sam lectured in Brookville, Pennsylvania – As reported by the Pittsburgh Gazette [MTL 3: 385].

November 2 Wednesday – Elisha Bliss wrote to Sam:

Dear Twain / Yours recd Yes I got your article. “It is accepted” (a. la. N.Y. Ledger) Thanks for same—

Paper will be out last of the month—

How would your Bro. do for an editor of it—?

Would he be satisfied with $100. per month for present, until we could do better by him—?—

November 20 Saturday – Sam wrote from Boston to James K. Medbery, declining to write a Christmas book for the American Literary Bureau [MTL 3: 400].

November 20 Sunday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Charles J. Langdon, who had sent baby shoes. Sam invented a conversation with the baby about using slang [MTL 4: 244].

November 21 Monday – Sam reprinted “Hints to Farmers,” by Alphonso Griswold, written for the Cincinnati Times, on page two of the Buffalo Express, calling it “PLAGIARIZED. BY THE ‘FAT CONTRIBUTOR’ ” [MTL 4: 240-1].

November 22 Tuesday – Sam wrote a short note from Buffalo to Elisha Bliss to send “this beggar” (unidentified) a book. Also: “Have instructed my brother get to Hartford with all convenient dispatch” [MTL 4: 247].

November 23 Tuesday – Sam lectured (“Savages”) in Allyn Hall, Hartford, Conn. The Hartford Courant (Nov. 25, p2) review summarized both traditional the traditional lecture audience “class” and expectations, and Sam’s unique “conversational” approach which mixed both serious and comedic:

November 24 Thursday – Benjamin P. Shillaber wrote from Chelsea, Mass.

My Dear Twain—A joyous thanks giving to you with your new joy. I saw the moment with much pleasure, remembering the scripture, and “thy Twain shall be thrice.” Bless the bairn [baby Langdon], and may his life be ever Clemens, as it would not be likely were it a girl….Now for a very modest request I wish to make—that you will write me six lines or upwards for a Fair paper I am editing”[MTP].

November 24–25 Thursday – Sam wrote late from Hartford to Livy, who was in New York City at the St. Nicholas Hotel with her father, sister Susan Crane, and John Slee and wife making wedding preparations.

November 25 Thursday – George L. Fall, partner of James Redpath, sent Sam another lecture schedule for December with 16 cities [MTP].

November 26 Friday – Sam lectured in an unidentified town, as cited by his letter to Livy the next day.

November 26 Saturday – Sam’s article, “My Watch—An Instructive Little Tale,” was printed in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 259]. The article also appeared in the December edition of the Galaxy.

Sam also wrote from Buffalo to Charles Henry Webb, who had published the Jumping Frog book. Sam had gone to court to get the copyright registered in his own name. Sam expressed regret at the trouble,

November 27 Saturday – Olivia Louise Langdon’s 24th birthday, her last as a single woman. Sam wrote her a short note from Boston: “Had a big house last night, as usual. Didn’t make a brilliant success otherwise, though.” The town has not been identified [MTL 3: 410].

November 27 Sunday – Livy’s 25th birthday. Sam gave her a copy of Snow-Bound. A Winter Idyl (1869) by John Greenleaf Whittier inscribed: “Livy/Nov. 27, 1870./From S.L.C.” [Gribben 767].

November 28 Sunday – Sam wrote from Boston to Livy about her 24th and his 34th birthday:

“I have kept the day alone, my darling—we will keep it together hereafter, God willing. My own birthday comes Tuesday, & I must keep that alone also, but it don’t matter—I’ve had had considerable practice in that” [MTL 3: 413].

November 28 Monday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Elisha Bliss that Orion was to start east in “about 6 or 8 days.” Sam also told of his plan to send Riley to South Africa, and the 600-page book he planned to write by the spring of 1872. He then asked Bliss for a 10% royalty on the proposed book.

November 29 Monday – Sam lectured (“Savages”)  in the Congregational Church, Newtonville, Mass. Though Sam did not like lecturing in churches as he felt it more difficult for the audience to laugh, the Newton Journal however, reported that Sam “elicited shouts of laughter” [MTL 3: 414n2].

Sam wrote from Boston to Livy, sending his schedule [MTL 3: 415].