Life in Buffalo: Day By Day

September 11 Saturday – “The Last Words of Great Men,” and “Personal,” both signed by Sam ran in the Express. In the former piece, Sam claimed that the last words of Joan of Arc were “Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, the Boys are Marching.” Other pieces ran in the Express: “Mr. And Mrs.

September 13 Monday – “The Gates Ajar,” attributed to Sam, was printed in the Express [McCullough 51].

Sam left Elmira for Buffalo.

September 15 Thursday – Sam and Livy wrote from Buffalo to Frank Bliss & Frances T. French, congratulating them on marriage, and regretting that illness in the house prevented them from attending the wedding [MTL 4: 194].

September 17 Friday – Sam wrote from Elmira to James Ausburn Towner (1836-1909) (“Ishmael”), somewhat piqued at Towner’s column in the Sept. 11 Elmira Saturday Evening Revue [MTL 3: 352].

September 17 Saturday – Sam’s article “To the Reader,” with a humorous map of Paris, France Fortifications, was printed in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 227]. Budd shows this as “Map of Paris” reprinted with “additional prefatory material” in the Nov. 1870 Galaxy [“Collected” 1012]. See map under Oct. 10 entry.

September 18 Saturday – “The ‘Wild Man’,” attributed to Sam, ran in the Express [McCullough 53].

September – Sam wrote an untitled burlesque letter from Lord Byron to Mark Twain, which was published posthumously [Camfield, bibliog.]. The impetus for the letter was no doubt Harriet Beecher Stowe’s bombshell article in the Atlantic, “The True Story of Lady Byron’s Life,” which exposed an affair by Lord Byron with his half sister, Augusta Leigh. Significantly, the article ran during James T. Fields’ (1817-1881) European vacation, with Howells in charge. This was a clear blunder, one of the few by Howells, and probably an attempt to placate Stowe.

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

“Political Economy”
“John Chinaman in New York”
“The Noble Red Man”
“A Royal Compliment”
“The Approaching Epidemic”
“Favors from Correspondents”
Short miscellaneous – included items on Beef Contract, Funeral, Obituary, Enigma [Schmidt].

September 19 Monday – John T. Metcalf wrote from Lansing, Iowa.

My Dear Sir: / I want to read your admirable book (“The Innocents Abroad”) but us poor d——s of country newspaper men can’t afford to buy one. We don’t know your publishers. Can’t we notice or advertise, and thus come into possession of something good for the mind, of a standard heaps of newspaper men want to reach, but you hold so successfully at your service? [MTPO]. Note: Sam sent this on to Bliss.

September 2 Thursday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Elisha Bliss about securing agents in the Buffalo area for sales of Innocents Abroad. All sales were by subscription, with traveling agents advertising and soliciting the book [MTL 3: 327]. Sam sent a note of acknowledgement to Stephen C.

September 2 Friday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Orion. Sam was so grateful for Orion’s memorandum books on their trip to Nevada, that he promised him $1,000 from royalties [MTL 4: 186].

September 21 Tuesday – Sam wrote a short note from Buffalo to Henry M. Crane confirming his lecture in Rondout, New York on Jan. 12, 1870 [MTL 3: 353].

September 21? Wednesday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Elisha Bliss that he’d written to Elisha’s son, Frank, and that Sam had finished the 7 or 8 chapter of Roughing It this day [MTL 4: 196].

September 22 Thursday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Elisha Bliss about the burlesque map of “Fortifications of Paris,” he’d published in the Express. Sam suggested they use the map in posters for Innocents [MTL 4: 198].

September 23 Thursday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to William P. Carpenter (1853-1936), responding to a request to lecture and forwarding his name to Redpath for a date [MTL 3: 356].

September 24 Friday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Mathew B. Cox, Sam’s friend and cabin mate during the 1868 voyage from New York to San Francisco. Cox was superintendent of the Pacific Mail Steamship Co.’s docks in San Francisco. The letter was a reminiscence of some of the fun on that trip [MTL 3: 357].

September 24 Saturday – Sam wrote from Buffalo, a letter of introduction for Livy to a local attorney, Franklin D. Locke, asking him to

“…make valid the accompanying power of attorney. It will be a very great favor if you can save her the necessity of getting out of the carriage facing the terrors of the law in your awe-inspiring den” [MTL 4: 200].

September 25 Saturday – Sam’s signed article, “Rev. H.W. Beecher – His Private Habits,” ran in the Express. By this date, The Buffalo Express had published six pieces signed “Mark Twain.” These pieces appeared nearly every Saturday and paid Sam $25 each [McCullough xxii]. Sam would publish over 50 pieces in the Express [Wilson 177]. A poem, “The Last Word,” ran in the Express signed by Sam, “Some of the Little Women” [Gribben 14].

September 26 Sunday – Sam was in Buffalo. He began a letter to Mary Mason Fairbanks, saying he couldn’t come see her until spring due to lectures, but “if Livy invites you you will come to our wedding, won’t you?”  He wrote also about Charles Langdon’s planned trip [MTL 3: 358-9].

Reigstad amplifies Clemens’ week:

September 26 Monday – Vice President “Smiling” Schulyer Colfax wrote to laugh at Sam’s “Fortifications of Paris” map and also Sam’s “masterpiece…your lightning rod article” (“Political Economy” in Galaxy) [MTP].

September 27 Monday – In Buffalo, Sam finished the letter to Mrs. Fairbanks, mentioning the brief visit to Buffalo of Prince Arthur, Queen Victoria’s third son.

“…none of his acts in Buffalo were noisy enough for future historical record. It was Veni, Vidi, Vici, with him. He came—he saw that lunch—he conquered it” [MTL 3: 356, 361n8].

September 28? Wednesday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Joe Goodman, previewing his coming new book (RI) [MTL 4: 201].

September 29 Wednesday – The New York State Republican convention met in Syracuse. Josephus N. Larned telegraphed Sam with the results of the convention, “the slate of nominees for nine Republican posts for November’s nongubernatorial election. Twain had only to write it up. Knowing nothing about state politics, and swamped with supervisory chores, Twain crafted a humorous ‘noncommentary’ on the Republican choices that Buffalonians remembered for years afterward” [Reigstad 57]. Note: see Sept. 30 entry, and source p.

September 29 Thursday – Emma Nye died in the morning from typhoid fever [MTL 4: 192-3n1]. That night her body was transported to Elmira and the Spaulding home. She was buried the following day in the Second Street Cemetery [Reigstad 173]. Sam & Livy did not make the trip to Elmira, since Livy was seven months pregnant and worn out from nursing her friend [MTL 4: 198n3].

September 3 Friday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Elisha Bliss about the New York Herald’s favorable notice for his book. The review argued that it was not too irreverent, a criticism some reviewers made [MTL 3: 329].

Sam also wrote to Henry Crane, who had kept requesting Sam to lecture, and to Livy.