January 1 Thursday – Sam wrote after midnight from London To Livy. Sam the romantic waxed eloquent in his love and missing his wife.
“I am wild to see you. So I mean to go away every now & then, just to renew that feeling—but never more than 48 hours.”
January 10 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Steubenville to Livy about his visit after the lecture to the Steubenville Female Seminary; the winning of passenger business by the railroads from steamboats; and novels he’d read and sent home.
January 10 Friday – Sam’s article arguing for annexation of the Sandwich Islands ran on the front page of the Hartford Courant.
January 10 Saturday – Sam had lunch aboard the Java, which left that day for New York. Sam’s host is not known. That evening, Sam gave the “Sandwich Islands” lecture and read the “Jumping Frog” story in Liverpool, England [Schmidt; MTL 6: 15-16n1, 20n1].
January 11 Thursday – Sam left Wheeling in the afternoon and traveled to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he lectured in Mercantile Library Hall – “Roughing It.”
Afterward he finished his Jan. 10 to Redpath and also wrote Livy:
January 11 Saturday – A humidor with this date engraved was purported given to Sam at a banquet, most likely in New York. The humidor is said to have been presented to Mark Twain at a banquet on January 11, 1873. The presenter was his good friend Charles Tiffany. Charles Tiffany and his son Louis Comfort Tiffany supplied many of the decorations for the Hartford home.
January 11 Sunday – George MacDonald wrote “a thousand thanks for your book. I did not mean to beg for one, and I hope you will not think so.” He was reading it now, likely GA, and said that he was “delighted with the courage & honesty” though he didn’t feel “the action quick enough” [MTP].
January 12 Friday – Sam lectured in Kittanning, Pennsylvania – “Roughing It.” Sam wrote from Kittanning to Livy before the lecture:
“Livy darling, this is a filthy, stupid, hateful Dutch village, like all Pennsylvania—& I have got to lecture to these leatherheads tonight, but shall leave for Pittsburgh at 3 in the morning, & spend Sunday in that black but delightful town” [MTL 5: 21-2].
January 12 Sunday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Ira F. Hart, secretary for the Elmira YMCA. Sam declined to lecture in Elmira or Towanda [MTL 5: 267]. He was determined to finish The Gilded Age before leaving for England in May. Sam also wrote to John M.
January 12 Monday – Sam wrote from Liverpool to Frank Finlay that he’d had full houses in Liverpool and “a jolly good time with them.” Sam wanted to send a “God be with you!” note to Finlay in the “midst of hustle & bustle of getting ready for an early start in the morning” [MTL 6: 19].
January 13 and 17, 1873 Friday
January 13 and 17 Friday – Sam wrote again from Hartford to Whitelaw Reid, acknowledging receipt of $100 for his two letters on the Sandwich Islands. Sam wrote about buying a lot in Hartford, but then crossed out the passage. On Jan. 17 Sam added:
January 13 Saturday – Sam had an open weekend and wrote a short note from Pittsburgh to Livy, sending clippings of favorable reviews. In the note he wrote that he’d just sent a “long dispatch,” which has been lost [MTL 5: 22].
Sam also sent a check and note to James Redpath for $124.69. The Lyceum charged speakers a 10% commission, and Sam owed back fees [26].
January 13 Tuesday – Sam sent a dispatch to Livy that he was boarding the Parthia for home. Livy reported the contents of the note to Mollie Clemens and remarked that this was five days earlier than he’d expected to sail, probably due to his inability to secure lecture dates in Ireland. The Parthia left Liverpool [MTL 6: 20].
January 14 Tuesday – Sam wrote a revision insert about missionary work in his Sandwich Islands letters to Whitelaw Reid, which were to be reprinted in the Tribune the following day.
January 15 Monday – Sam’s lecture in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania was “backed” (canceled) by the committee there, so Sam spent a long weekend in Pittsburgh [MTL 5: 28].
Bill marked paid from Tracy & Co., Importers for “1 polished standard for Fire irons” $4 [MTP].
January 15 Wednesday – Whitelaw Reid responded that the insert was received 24 hours too late, even for the extra sheet, but that he’d have a new plate made for what he might print later [MTL 5: 272n1].
January 15 Thursday – The New York Daily Graphic, p. 4, ran “Mark Twain’s Trails in London,” about his lectures there and a reprint of his humorous letter to the London Post [Tenney 6].
January 16 Tuesday – Sam was still in Pittsburgh when he wrote Livy:
“…if ever I get through with this tour alive I never want to take another, even for a month.”
He took the train and lectured that evening in Opera House, Lock Haven, Pa. – “Roughing It” [MTL 5: 27].
January 16 Thursday – Sam paid $10,000 for a 544’ x 320’ lot in Hartford deeded this day [MTL 5: 271, 277]. Andrews states it was “later enlarged by a second purchase…for $20,000” total [81].
For three days the area was covered with ice; Livy wrote about it in her Jan. 19 diary entry.
January 17 Wednesday – Sam lectured in Milton, Pennsylvania – “Roughing It.” He wrote from either Lock Haven or Milton to James Redpath, turning down lectures after Feb.1 in Utica and Newburgh, New York [MTL 5: 28].
January 17 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to his old friend Will Bowen, commiserating about the loss of a child [MTL 5: 273]. Sam also wrote to James Redpath, declining to lecture in Philadelphia, but saying he might talk the “Sandwich Islands” lecture in New York and Brooklyn for the Mercantile Library [MTL 5: 274].
January 18 Thursday – Sam lectured in Court House, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania – “Roughing It.” Once again, Sam received mixed reviews:
January – Sam’s article “A Nabob’s Visit to New York” ran in American Publishing Co.’s in-house promotional monthly, American Publisher [Camfield, bibliog.]. See Roughing It, Ch. 46.
January – By this month, Roughing It had earned Sam about $20,600 in royalties [MTL 5: 271n7]. Sam understood that writing brought in more money than lecturing, though it’s clear that both activities energized and pleased him.
January – Sam had a formal photograph made by Rogers & Nelson, London [MTP].