January 13 Thursday – Sam wrote from Cambridge, New York to Livy about quitting smoking—did she really want him to?
“I shall treat smoking just exactly as I would treat the forefinger of my left hand: If you asked me in all seriousness to cut that finger off…I give you my word I would cut it off” [MTL 4: 21]. Note: Presented in this way, how could Livy ask Sam to quit smoking?
In the evening, Sam lectured (“Savages”) in Hubbard Hall, Cambridge, New York [MTPO].
January 14 Friday – Sam lectured (“Savages”) in Mechanic’s Hall, Utica, New York [MTPO].
Sam wrote from Troy, New York to Livy. Neither poor weather nor a fire in the lecture hall stopped Sam from his lecture. He was upset that the Troy Daily Times had published his Cambridge lecture of the night before. At 7 a fire broke out in the lecture hall.
January 15 Saturday – Sam wrote after midnight from the Baggs Hotel in Utica, New York to Livy [Powers, MT A Life 280].
“We had a noble house to-night (Oh, it is bitter, bitter cold & blustery!)—the largest of the season, they believe, though they cannot tell till they count the tickets to-morrow.”
Sam also wrote his sister, Pamela. He’d sent money for her and Annie to come for his wedding, plus support money for his mother, whom he did not want making the trip during the winter.
January 17 Monday – Sam lectured (“Savages”) in Baldwinsville, New York [MTPO].
January 18 Tuesday – Sam lectured (“Savages”) in Ogdensburg, NY [MTPO]. He left Buffalo at 4 PM
January 19 Wednesday – Sam lectured at the Normal School Chapel, Fredonia, New York [MTPO]. The Fredonia Censor reported on Jan. 26 of this lecture:
January 20 Thursday – Sam lectured (“Savages”) in Hornell Library, Hornellsville, New York. Sam wrote before the lecture from Hornellsville to Livy.
January 21 Friday – Sam lectured (“Savages”) in Institute Hall, Jamestown, New York, and immediately made the trip to Elmira to prepare for his wedding [MTL 4: 33n1]. Note: Reigstad writes that the tour “ended with a whimper. / He admitted to being tired for his last lecture stop, and the Jamestown Journal reports were unflattering” [93]. During the three-month lecture tour, Clemens sent over 20 stories to the Buffalo Express [94].
January 22 Saturday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Elisha Bliss. He had begun a book about Noah’s Ark, which was never completed. He also wrote that he was “prosecuting Webb in the N.Y. courts” to regain the copyright of the Jumping Frog book, which Charles Webb had entered in his own name. He intended then to break up the plates “& prepare a new vol.
January 26 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Jim Gillis, evidently answering Jim’s letter about the good ol’ days at Angels Camp.
January 28 Friday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Elisha Bliss, happy with the $4,000 due him for his latest royalties from Innocents Abroad.
“But $4,000 is pretty gorgeous. One don’t pick that up often, with a book. It is the next best thing to lecturing….I’ll back you against any publisher in America, Bliss—or elsewhere” [MTL 4: 40-1].
To date, Sam had totaled royalties of about $7,404 [MTL 4: 42n5].
January 29 Saturday – Sam’s article, “Around the World Letter No. 8,” subtitled, “Dining with a Cannibal,” was printed in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 144].
February 2 Wednesday – Samuel L. Clemens married Olivia Louise Langdon. Congregational ministers Joseph Twichell and Thomas K. Beecher performed the ceremony at 7 PM.
February 3 Thursday – The newlyweds left in a private railroad car for their new home in Buffalo. On the train Sam entertained by singing an old British folk ballad that his niece Annie Moffett did not think proper for the occasion. The song would appear in different versions in HF and P&P.
February 6 Sunday – Sam wrote from Buffalo, New York to William “Will” Bowen:
My First, & Oldest & Dearest Friend,
February 7 Monday – Joseph and Harmony Twichell responded to Sam’s telegram for them to visit; they arrived in Buffalo this day [MTL 4: 66].
Mary Mason Fairbanks’ account of the Clemens wedding ran in the Cleveland Herald. Though the event was mentioned in many newspapers, her account is the fullest, since she was in attendance.
February 8 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to John Fuller, brother of Sam’s agent in 1867, Frank Fuller. Sam declined to lecture. “Am just married, & don’t take an interest in anything out of doors” [MTL 4: 64].
February 9 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Francis P. Church, of the Galaxy. Sam claimed his work for the Buffalo Express paid him an ample livelihood; that he wrote sketches, squibs and editorials for it; that he didn’t go to the office [MTL 4: 65].
February 10 Thursday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Charles Cole Hine, editor of the monthly journal, Insurance Monitor, declining to submit an article.
I have begun a new life & a new system, a new dispensation. And the bottom rule of the this latter is,
To Work No More than is Absolutely Necessary.
February 12 Saturday – Rev. Grosvenor W. Heacock, minister Lafayette Presbyterian Church, called on Sam and Livy at home. Reigstad writes: “Heacock spoke highly of The Innocents Abroad to Twain, and the new married couple enjoyed his company” [130].
February 13 Sunday – Sam again attended services at the Lafayette Presbyterian Church, Rev. Grosvenor W. Heacock, minister. This time Livy accompanied him [Reigstad 130].
Sam wrote from Buffalo to Mary Mason Fairbanks, and Livy added her comments.
February 14 Monday – Henry W. Shaw (Josh Billings) wrote to Sam; letter not found at MTP, but catalogued as UCLC 31952.
February 15 Tuesday – Elisha Bliss wrote to Sam. After pleasantries and tales of a “little ‘bender’” with Twichell, Bliss gave production numbers on IA, “Have sold about 5,000 so far this month,” then hit Sam with the bad news about Kitty (Kate) D. Barstow (Mrs. William H. Barstow):
February 17 – 19 Saturday – Sometime during these two days David Ross Locke (“Petroleum Nasby”) and Coleman E. Bishop (1838-1896), editor of the Jamestown NY Journal, made an afternoon call. Locke was in Buffalo to lecture on “The Struggles of a Conservative with the Woman Question,” likely being about suffrage [Reigstad 134]. Note: Bishop was Twain’s contact for his January 21 Jamestown lecture. See also Feb. 18; July 14, 1871 to Redpath; MTL 4: 76n1, 2.
February 18 Friday – Sam attended David Ross Locke’s lecture in Buffalo for the Woman’s Suffrage Association on “The Struggles of a Conservative with the Woman Question.” Sam published a review in the Buffalo Express on Feb. 19 [Reigstad, email 11 May 2013].