February 9 Monday – In Indianapolis, Sam wrote Livy a letter full of indignation and disgust with George W. Cable. He told of Cable interrupting an anecdote at a Saturday evening reception to tell him he was leaving (due to the Sabbath).
February 10 Tuesday – Sam and Cable gave a reading in Opera House, Delaware, Ohio [MTPO].
Sam wrote from Columbus, Ohio to Livy (continued from above):
February 11 Wednesday – Sam and Cable gave a reading sponsored by the Union Library Association, at the First Congregational Church, Oberlin, Ohio. Reviews were mixed [Cardwell 58]. Clemens included: “Tragic Tale of the Fishwife,” “A Trying Situation,” “A Ghost Story,” and “Incorporated Company of Mean Men” [MTPO].
Horace E. Rounds wrote from Milwaukee for autograph & photo [MTP].
February 12 Thursday – Sam and Cable gave a reading to a packed house at Whitney’s Opera House, Detroit, Michigan. Even though there was a scheduling conflict with a high society event, the Light Guard’s Grand Levee Honors for Governor Russell A.
February 13 Friday – At 9 A.M. Sam wrote from Detroit, Michigan to Livy, whose last letter transmitted a hint by some Hartford charity for Cable to perform for their benefit.
February 14 Saturday – Sam was introduced to tobogganing by 74 young ladies from Helmuth Female College, “2 ½ miles” out from town. It was twelve below zero.
February 15 Sunday – While Sam most likely slept in, Cable attended morning service at a Toronto Methodist church, and again at a 3 PM Sunday school [Roberts 22].
February 16 Monday – In a Feb. 17 letter to Livy, Sam explained why he did not write on Feb. 16. On the train all day, Cable asked to borrow Sam’s writing pad. Though it was “pretty thin,” Sam thought there’d be enough. Cable wrote eight letters and used up the pad.
February 17 Tuesday – Sam and Cable gave a reading in Opera House, Ottawa, Canada.
Sam wrote from Brockville, Canada to Charles Webster. Sam still had not heard if Osgood had sent a statement for the account.
February 18 Wednesday – The official U.S. publication date for Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. [Hirst, “A Note on the Text” Oxford edition, 1996]. Note: other dates are sometimes given, for example, Budd in MT “Collected” gives Feb. 16 [978]. In the first month the book sold 42,000 copies [Willis 161]. By the year 2000, the book had sold perhaps twenty million copies and approximately 60 foreign editions [162].
February 19 Thursday – Sam’s P.S. to his Feb. 18 to Livy, simply added that he’d “talked here in Montreal last night.” Before the reading Sam wrote another letter to Livy, enclosing the itinerary for the tour for February.
February 20 Friday – En route from Montreal to New York City Sam wrote to Livy. He’d sent a toboggan for the children but cautioned, “They better not try to use it till I come.” He wrote just as the train left the Lake Champlain area.
February 21 Saturday – Upon arriving in New York, Sam and Cable breakfasted with Ozias Pond and his wife, Nella.
February 23 Monday – Sam and Cable gave a reading at the Opera House in New Haven, Conn. [New Haven Evening Register for Feb. 18, 21 and 23].
J. Chipchase wrote from Baltimore about losing money on an offer by Bissell’s [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Bissel’s victim & my reply”
February 25 Wednesday – Cable’s Feb. 26 letter home:
Had a great time in Newark last night; one of the finest nights we have had for some ten days. Orange [NJ] was very poor—i.e. the audience was slim; which was a great surprise to us & not to be accounted for [Turner, MT & GWC 113]. Note: Although not listed in Railton or Schmidt, it seems from this letter that the men read in both places, probably a matinee and an evening performance.
February 26 Thursday – Sam saw Nat Goodwin, actor and vaudevillian, on the train going to Philadelphia. Goodwin told Sam he was “very anxious to play” the Sellers as Scientist [Feb. 27 to Howells].
February 27 Friday – Sam wrote from Philadelphia to William Dean Howells:
To-night in Baltimore, to-morrow afternoon & night in Washington, & my four-months platform campaign is ended at last. It has been a curious experience. It has taught me that Cable’s gifts of mind are greater & highter than I had suspected. But—
February 28 Saturday – Sam and Cable read at the Congregational Church, Washington, D.C.
Note: Fatout gives figures from Pond’s cashbook, listing $789 as the take from this reading [Circuit 218]. Thus ended the “Twins of Genius” tour: total gross receipts, $46,201, from which Cable’s salary and expenses took more than $20,000. Cable earned $6,750, Sam approximately $15,000, and Pond’s commissions “a modest $2500 to $3000” [228].