Elmira, Hartford and England: Day By Day

December 14 Sunday – Sam gave his “Roughing It on the Silver Frontier” lecture at the Queen’s Concert Rooms, London [MTPO]. Sam wrote to Livy, his letter sounding a lot like those from his courting days… “an ocean is between us, now, & I have to gush.” Sam looked forward to having Frank Finlay  as a guest for the week [MTL 5: 518].

December 15 Friday – Sam lectured in Luce’s Hall, Grand Rapids, Michigan – “Roughing It” was a moderate success.

December 15 Sunday – In a Springfield (Mass.) Union article of Dec. 20, an account and description of Sam attending Twichell’s church was published. Sam was a regular member in his early Hartford days.

December 15 Monday – Sam gave his “Roughing It on the Silver Frontier” lecture at the Queen’s Concert Rooms, London [MTPO].

Sam finished the Dec. 13 letter to Livy. At the urging of Moncure Conway, he also wrote to Alfred Lord Tennyson sending complimentary tickets [MTL 5: 519].

December 16 Saturday – Sam lectured in Union Hall, Kalamazoo, Michigan – “Roughing It” drew a sharply divided reaction in the newspapers, the Kalamazoo Telegraph hated the performance, while the Gazette claimed Sam “enchanted” and “convulsed” the audience. Sam must have wondered what he had to do to win over the press. Sam spent the night in Kalamazoo.

December 16 Tuesday – Sam gave his “Roughing It on the Silver Frontier” lecture at the Queen’s Concert Rooms, London [MTPO].

December 17 Sunday – Sam started at 4 AM for Chicago, about 140 miles away.

December 17 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Thomas Nast, thanking him for his help for Charley (Charles M.) Fairbanks and complementing him on Nast’s Almanac.

“I wish you could go to England with us in May. Surely you could never regret it. I do hope my publishers can make it pay you to illustrate my English book. Then I should have good pictures. They’ve got to improve on ‘Roughing It ’ ” [MTL 5: 251-2].

December 17 Wednesday – Sam gave his “Roughing It on the Silver Frontier” lecture at the Queen’s Concert Rooms, London [MTPO].

December 18 Monday – Sam arrived in Chicago at 3 PM, some 11 hours for a 2-hour trip. He gave the “Roughing It.” lecture south of the area devastated by the Oct. 8 fire, in Michigan Avenue Baptist Church, Chicago.

December 18 Wednesday – Bill paid to Moore, Weeks & Co., Hartford for repair of rocker & cradle $4 [MTP].

December 18 Thursday – Sam gave his “Roughing It on the Silver Frontier” lecture at the Queen’s Concert Rooms, London [MTPO].

December – Sam’s article “My First Lecture” ran in American Publishing Co.’s in-house promotional monthly, American Publisher [Camfield, bibliog.]. Similar to Roughing It, Ch. 78.

December – Sam wrote to the Editor of the Literary World about unconscious plagiarism in Innocents Abroad. Unconscious plagiarism was an idea that Sam spoke about in an 1879 speech honoring Oliver Wendell Holmes [MTL 5: 232, 233n4].

December, end – Sam remained in Hartford with his family during this period and no letters from Dec. 22 to Jan. 3 have been found. Clemens may have gone to Elmira, where George MacDonald was visiting Livy’s mother [Lindskoog 26]. After returning from England, Sam was drafting an English book, so it’s probable he worked on it over the holidays. Sam got the book about a third completed and stopped.

December – In an Atlantic Monthly article, comparisons were made between recent California writers, including Sam Clemens, Bret Harte, Charles Warren Stoddard, Prentice Mulford (1834-1891), and Charles Webb.

“The greatest and most original of these is Twain, whose tone of “perpetual personal companionship” is the chief characteristic of the pure humorist.”

December 19 Tuesday – In Chicago, Sam stayed with Dr. Abraham Reeves Jackson, the “doctor” of Innocents Abroad. Sam performed the “Roughing It” lecture at the Union Park Congregational Church, Chicago, Ill. Reporters praised both of Sam’s Chicago lectures.

December 19 Thursday – It was Orion and Mollie’s one year anniversary, and they dined with Sam and Livy [Livy & Sam to Jane Clemens, Dec. 20].

Bill paid to W.L. Denning for repair of rocker & cradle $4 [MTP].

December 19 Friday – Sam lunched with Mrs. Thomas Owen, a widow, and went to Westminster Abbey to see the monument to Thomas Owen, who built Condover Hall [MTL 5: 521].

In the evening, Sam gave his “Roughing It on the Silver Frontier” lecture at the Queen’s Concert Rooms, London [MTPO].

December 2 Saturday – Sam gave the “Artemus Ward” lecture in Barber Hall, Homer, New York to a “large assemblage.”

Clemens gave a humorous autograph to an unidentified person. Cue: “It isn’t egotism that makes me choose a leaf so…” Not found at MTP but in catalog [MTP].

December 2 Tuesday – Sam gave his “Sandwich Islands” lecture at Queen’s Concert Rooms, London [MTPO].

December 20 Wednesday – Sam lectured (topic unknown) in Sandwich, Illinois (why not the Sandwich Islands lecture for Sandwich?) The Chicago Tribune printed a long synopsis of Sam’s “Roughing It” lecture, so he returned to the “Artemus Ward” lecture, at least in Princeton and perhaps here as well [MTL 4: 519].

December 20 Friday – The Springfield Mass. Union ran a correspondent’s article about Twichell’s church, which included a description of Sam in attendance on Dec. 15.

Livy and Sam wrote from Hartford to Jane Clemens and family. Livy wrote of Christmas and gifts sent and her joy at plans for Jane Clemens and Annie Moffett to come for the holidays.

December 20 Saturday – Before his lecture, Sam wrote Livy:

“Livy darling, I am about to go to the hall, to deliver my last lecture in London. Presently I shall be free! All this time my health has been simply splendid….I shall see you by Feb. 1! Hurrah!” [MTL 5: 524].

December 21 Thursday – Sam lectured in City Hall, Aurora, Illinois – Topic was probably “Artemus Ward.” The Chicago Evening Post ran an interview on page 4 with Sam on some comments on King Edward VII [Scharnhorst, Interviews 1].