November 8 Friday – Clemens sent another announcement to the editor of the London Telegraph, of his return home and plans for lecturing in the spring [MTL 5: 219].
John Camden Hotten wrote to Clemens, who went to Piccadilly to call on him. Hotten’s letter, noted only in 1st ed. MTDBD I for this date, is now supplied by Welland:
November 8 Saturday – In the morning, Sam sailed alone on the City of Chester for England, where he would await publication by Routledge and continue lecturing [MTL 5: 472].
On board, Sam wrote to Livy:
November 9 Thursday – Sam won a positive review from the Hartford Courant. Sam lectured in Mechanics Hall, Worcester, Mass. – “Artemus Ward.” Sam wrote from Worcester after the lecture, upset that the lecture chairman sat behind him on the stage—“a thing I detest.” Sam had talked to:
November 9 Saturday – Sam attended the Lord Mayor’s Banquet. Sir Sydney Waterlow was the new Lord Mayor. The banquet was held for 800-900 guests [MTLE 5: 221n1]. On each plate was a plan of the hall with the position of each person numbered. A reading of the names of those present was made, as Sam later told during a journalistic breakfast in 1879.
October 1 or 2 Monday – Sam left Buffalo and met Livy in New York City, staying a day at the St. Nicholas Hotel [MTL 4: 462n1].
October 1 Tuesday – Bill paid for The Farmington Creamery Co., $9.50 for milk & cream deliveries made Sept. 6, 13, 20, 27 [MTP].
October 10 Tuesday – Bill paid to Thomas Carron Co. “$47 for moving; 3 teams moving furniture 11 hours each, 75 plus two hours; 2 men helping at house; 10 hours each, etc.” [MTP]. Note: This bill was likely for moving the family’s goods from the Hartford depot to their rental house in Nook Farm.
October 10 Thursday – The Hartford Evening Post printed a summary of Sam’s grievance letter about John Camden Hotten (see Sept. 25 entry) [MTL 5: 179].
October 11 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Redpath & Fall. Having rec’d the lecture list.
“You can lecture me on Saturdays if you have the opportunity. Sometimes one of those idle days is hard to put in” [MTL 4: 468].
October 11 Saturday – A brief notice in the Court Journal (London), in full:
October 12 Thursday – In Hartford, Sam declined an invitation by G.K. Jewett.
Dear Sir: / Your kind invitation is received, & I return my hearty thanks for the compliment. But I am compelled to tender my regrets, as well—& they are hearty ones, too, for it is hard to have to miss the opportunity of having personal experience of this great international event. But I am just leaving on a long lecturing tour & cannot get free.
Very Truly Yours,
Samℓ. L. Clemens.
October 12 Saturday – Sam wrote from London to Livy.
I have been thinking and thinking, Livy darling, & I have decided that one of 2 or 3 things must be done: either you must come right over here for 6 months; or I must go right back home 3 or 4 weeks hence & both of us come here April 1 & stay all summer. But I am not going abroad any more without you. It is too dreary when the lights are out & the company gone [MTL 5: 196].
October 12 Sunday – Sam wrote a short note from London to Olivia Lewis Langdon agreeing that they would stop at the “new hotel” (The Windsor) in New York rather than the St. Nicholas. Sam wrote he was resting for his first lecture the following night [MTL 5: 452].
Shirley Brooks wrote to Sam (transcript of clipping enclosed) [MTP].
October 13 Friday – Sam and Charles Langdon left Hartford. Sam was to begin his lecture tour in three days. He stopped in New York, where he stayed at the St. Nicholas Hotel. Charles Langdon and Sam and Edward L.
October 13 Monday – Sam gave his “Our Fellow Savages of the Sandwich Islands” lecture at Queen’s Concert Rooms, Hanover Square, London at 8 PM [Baetzhold 17]. Lorch points out that this was “the most fashionable [hall] in London, instead of the more popular Egyptian Hall where Artemus Ward had lectured…unquestionably made at Mark Twain’s request” [139].
October 14 Saturday – Sam wrote from the St. Nicholas Hotel in New York to Livy:
“Charley left for home a few minutes ago—9 AM. Well, I do wish I could see you, now, Livy dear, & the splendid cubbie.”
Sam left New York and arrived in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania at 4 PM [MTL 4: 469-470].
October 14 Monday – Bill dated Oct. 12 paid to Moore, Weeks & Co. for “case condensed milke” [MTP].
October, mid – Sam was entertained by Judge George Turner and family, themselves on vacation from San Francisco. J. Ross Browne wrote to his wife on Oct. 16:
October 14 Tuesday – Sam repeated his “Sandwich Islands” lecture at Queen’s Concert Rooms, Hanover Square, London at 8 PM [Baetzhold 17]. “Judging by the attendance, applause, and laughter, the lecture was a great success,” wrote George H. Fitzgibbon, the London correspondent for the Darlington Northern Echo [MTL 5: 453].
October 15 Sunday – Sam wrote from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania to Livy. Sam wrote of the town, “an old Dutch settlement, & I hear that tongue here as often as ours.” He was impressed by a cemetery with acres of identical graves with tombstones “the size of a boy’s slate.” Sam had registered with an assumed name at the hotel to guarantee his privacy, even though it meant bypassing a reception and “sumptuous rooms provided” [MTL 4: 470-1].
October 15 Wednesday – Sam repeated his “Sandwich Islands” lecture at Queen’s Concert Rooms, Hanover Square, London at 8 PM [Baetzhold 17]. Sam again wrote to George Bentley about the French Frog sketch, but held the letter until he was in route on the Batavia, where he completed the note on Oct. 30 [MTL 5: 455].
October 16 Monday to February 27 – 1872 Lecture Tour:
Sam returned to the lecture circuit under the management of James Redpath and the Boston Lyceum Bureau. There were at least 77 engagements using three different speeches.
October 16 Thursday – In London Sam wrote to Charles Warren Stoddard:
Please pass the bearer to a good stall.
Oct. 16.
My Dear Old Boy—
Can’t you take this note as your authority & run in to the lecture (Hanover Square Rooms) tomorrow evening or Saturday afternoon? Or mail this to Geo. Dolby, (if you prefer,) 52 New Bond street, & he will send you ticket.
October 17 Tuesday – Sam lectured in Allentown, Penn. He wrote from Allentown to Livy:
Livy darling, this lecture will never do. I hate it & won’t keep it. I can’t even handle these chuckle-headed Dutch with it.
Have blocked out a lecture on Artemus Ward, & shall write it next Saturday & deliver it next Monday in Washington [MTL 4: 474-5].
October 17 Thursday – Bill paid $16 “in full all demands to date” W.K. Holt, handwritten, not invoice, services not specified. Also, $4.80 to T.S. Daniels, for oats, etc. [MTP]
October 17 Friday – Sam repeated his “Sandwich Islands” lecture at Queen’s Concert Rooms, Hanover Square, London at 8 PM [Baetzhold 17].