May 19 Friday – The Minneapolis arrived at Dubuque, Iowa.
We noticed that above Dubuque the water of the Mississippi was olive-green—rich and beautiful and semitransparent, with the sun on it….The majestic bluffs that overlook the river, along through this region, charm one with the grace and variety of their forms, and the soft beauty of their adornment…And it is all as tranquil and reposeful as dreamland, and has nothing this-worldly about it—nothing to hang a fret or a worry upon [Ch 58 LM].
May 2 Tuesday – Dr. John Brown of Scotland, favored friend of the Clemens family died. Sam would learn of the death before he left New Orleans, in a “damp newspaper.”
Sam wrote from New Orleans to Livy:
May 20 Saturday – The Minneapolis arrived at Lake Pepin, Minn. Sam and Osgood saw a “wretched poor family on boat going to the frontier—man on deck with wagon; woman & several little children allowed in cabin for charity’s sake. The slept on sofas & floor in glare of lamps without covering. Must have frozen last night.” Sam told how he and Osgood took pity on the family and got them hot meals and blankets [MTNJ 2: 480n164].
May 21 Sunday – The Minneapolis arrived at St. Paul, Minn. at 7 AM after a “hideous trip” where Sam and Osgood spent the night at the Metropolitan Hotel. It was cold and snowing [Kaplan 246].
May 22 Monday – “Snowed a few flakes. We left at 1.45 east” [MTNJ 2: 480].
Sam and James Osgood left St. Paul, Minn. by train, bound for home [Powers, MT A Life 462].
The St. Paul and Minneapolis Pioneer Press ran a brief article on page 7 paraphrasing Sam’s mistrust of interviewers and the reasons for his current trip. There were no direct quotations [Budd, “Interview” 3].
May 23 Tuesday – Judge Caleb F. Davis, President of Keokuk Savings Bank & Trust, wrote to Clemens:
I write to remind you of my request, and your promise to send me your photograph, and the published sketch you mentioned. … /
May 24 Wednesday – On entering Philadelphia, Sam and Osgood observed a crowd had formed to gaze at an Italian laborer whose foot had been severed by a train.
“Our tracks ought to be fenced—on the principle that the majority of human beings being fools, the laws ought to be made in the interest of the majority” [MTNJ 2: 481].
May 3 Wednesday – Sam “lay abed till toward noon…& made Osgood go out & meet the appointments.” After Osgood returned they began a game of billiards, but Horace Bixby came by. Sam went and dined with his old mentor [May 4 to Livy, MTP]. In Ch. 48 of Life on the Mississippi, Sam wrote he encountered Bixby on the street and the two men embraced, but the May 4 account is probably the correct one.
May 4 Thursday – Sam wrote that he and Bixby “joined a party of ladies and gentlemen, guests of Major Wood, and went down the river fifty-four miles, in a swift tug” [Ch 48 LM].
From Sam’s notebook:
May 5 Friday – Sam was quite fascinated by an ice factory he visited and described it the next day in a letter to Livy. “They make 60 tons a day in summer & 100 in winter, & sell it at a cent a pound.”
In the evening Sam received a letter from Susy and Clara and Livy [May 6 letter to Livy, MTP].
May 6 Saturday – From Sam’s notebook:
Visited Armory of the “Washington Artillery”. Hanging there is an equestrian portrait of “Stonewall” Jackson & Lee (by Julio.) Also an original portrait—full length—of Andrew Jackson.
Flags of the Wash. Artillery with names 60 noted engagements embroidered thereon. Also flag of the Cross and Stars—the first one made after adoption of change from Stars & Bars.
In another room were portraits of Gen. Beauregard & Gen Owens—our chaperone [MTNJ 2: 557]
May 7 Sunday – The CBR arrived at Baton Rouge at 4:10 AM, Bayou Sara at 7:30 AM, and Natchez, Miss. at 4:15 PM [MTNJ 2: 560].
“We made Natchez (three hundred miles) in twenty-two hours and a half—much the swiftest passage I have ever made over that piece of water” [Ch 51 LM].
May 8 Monday – Sam’s room was over the boilers and “some idiot had closed the transoms,” the heat waking him at 4 AM. He “went on watch”; it was foggy. He noted that George Ritchie steered by compass until the watch was over, using “his & Bixby’s patented chart for crossings & occasionally blowing the whistle” [MTNJ 2: 471]. The CBR arrived in Vicksburg, Miss at 8 AM [560].
May 9 Tuesday – From Sam’s notebook:
“30 miles below Memphis tied up to the bank while they washed out the boilers and let a hurricane, thunder & hail storm pass over. The wind snapped off several forest trees near by making sounds like reports of a rifle” [MTNJ 2: 563].
Joseph P. Smyth, customs agent wrote from NYC to bill Clemens 22.30 for a case of books [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “About books from Tauchnitz”