September 11 Saturday – “The Last Words of Great Men,” and “Personal,” both signed by Sam ran in the Express. In the former piece, Sam claimed that the last words of Joan of Arc were “Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, the Boys are Marching.” Other pieces ran in the Express: “Mr. And Mrs.
September 13 Monday – “The Gates Ajar,” attributed to Sam, was printed in the Express [McCullough 51].
Sam left Elmira for Buffalo.
September 17 Friday – Sam wrote from Elmira to James Ausburn Towner (1836-1909) (“Ishmael”), somewhat piqued at Towner’s column in the Sept. 11 Elmira Saturday Evening Revue [MTL 3: 352].
September 18 Saturday – “The ‘Wild Man’,” attributed to Sam, ran in the Express [McCullough 53].
September 21 Tuesday – Sam wrote a short note from Buffalo to Henry M. Crane confirming his lecture in Rondout, New York on Jan. 12, 1870 [MTL 3: 353].
September 23 Thursday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to William P. Carpenter (1853-1936), responding to a request to lecture and forwarding his name to Redpath for a date [MTL 3: 356].
September 24 Friday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Mathew B. Cox, Sam’s friend and cabin mate during the 1868 voyage from New York to San Francisco. Cox was superintendent of the Pacific Mail Steamship Co.’s docks in San Francisco. The letter was a reminiscence of some of the fun on that trip [MTL 3: 357].
September 25 Saturday – Sam’s signed article, “Rev. H.W. Beecher – His Private Habits,” ran in the Express. By this date, The Buffalo Express had published six pieces signed “Mark Twain.” These pieces appeared nearly every Saturday and paid Sam $25 each [McCullough xxii]. Sam would publish over 50 pieces in the Express [Wilson 177]. A poem, “The Last Word,” ran in the Express signed by Sam, “Some of the Little Women” [Gribben 14].
September 26 Sunday – Sam was in Buffalo. He began a letter to Mary Mason Fairbanks, saying he couldn’t come see her until spring due to lectures, but “if Livy invites you you will come to our wedding, won’t you?” He wrote also about Charles Langdon’s planned trip [MTL 3: 358-9].
Reigstad amplifies Clemens’ week:
September 27 Monday – In Buffalo, Sam finished the letter to Mrs. Fairbanks, mentioning the brief visit to Buffalo of Prince Arthur, Queen Victoria’s third son.
“…none of his acts in Buffalo were noisy enough for future historical record. It was Veni, Vidi, Vici, with him. He came—he saw that lunch—he conquered it” [MTL 3: 356, 361n8].
September 29 Wednesday – The New York State Republican convention met in Syracuse. Josephus N. Larned telegraphed Sam with the results of the convention, “the slate of nominees for nine Republican posts for November’s nongubernatorial election. Twain had only to write it up. Knowing nothing about state politics, and swamped with supervisory chores, Twain crafted a humorous ‘noncommentary’ on the Republican choices that Buffalonians remembered for years afterward” [Reigstad 57]. Note: see Sept. 30 entry, and source p.
September 30 Thursday – “The Ticket—Explanation” a signed article ran in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 59]. Note: this referred to by Reigstad in Sept. 29 entry.
October – The text of an interview with ex-Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton and Secretary of State Hamilton Fish, and Attorney General Brown. The supposed discussion was the Alabama uestion, but Sam was present and wrote the real discussion was about the most effective way to remove warts. Attributed to Twain in the Oct. 1869 issue of Wood’s Household Magazine [Tenney 162; Neider, MT Life as I Find It 36-7; Gale 409].
October 1 Friday – “Engineer Griffin,” attributed to Sam, appeared in the Express [McCullough 60].
October 2 Saturday – Sam’s signed article ran in the Express: “The Latest Novelty Mental Photographs.” A list of questions were received that were to “ferret out the most secret points of a man’s nature.” Here are a few: What is your idea of Happiness? – Finding all the buttons on. / Your idea of Misery? – Breaking an egg in your pocket. / What do you believe to be your Distinguishing Characteristic? – Hunger. / What is your Aim in life? – To endeavor to be absent when my time comes. / What is your Motto?
October 7 Thursday – Sam wrote from Elmira to an unidentified person about a humorous article sent burlesquing Baron Alexander von Humboldt. Sam wrote he would lecture in Pittsburgh on Nov. 1 and then lecture in New England until Jan. 15 [MTL 3: 366-7].
October 8 Friday – Sam wrote to the Polar Star Mason Lodge of St. Louis, asking for a “demit,” an official release of membership to non-affiliate status [Jones 366]. Note: this letter not found in the MTP letters, and specifies Sam wrote from Buffalo, when he was in Elmira on this date, so the date is suspect.
October 9 Saturday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Schuyler Colfax, vice president under Grant. Colfax was returning to Washington from a visit to the Pacific states. Sam asked for letters of recommendation for Charles Langdon and Darius Ford, who were traveling to the West Coast.
October 11 Monday – Sam wrote from Elmira to the California Pioneers regretfully passing on their invitation to a banquet at Delmonico’s in New York City. About 200 Californians had traveled across country from Sacramento a week before [MTL 3: 371-2].
October 14 Thursday – Sam’s letter to the California Pioneers of Oct. 11 ran in the New York Tribune [Camfield, bibliog.].
October 16 Saturday – “Around the World – Letter No.1” dated Oct. 10 ran in the Buffalo Express. “I am just starting out on a pleasure trip around the globe, by proxy.” Charley and Professor Darius Ford’s trip was to be coordinated and written up by Sam.
October 19 Tuesday – “Mark Twain – His Greetings to the California Pioneers of 1849” was printed in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 71].
October 23 Saturday – Sam’s article, “The Legend of the Capitoline Venus,” was published in the Express. This is one of Sam’s earliest in the paper. The title was shortened to “The Capitoline Venus” upon reprinting in Sketches, New and Old (1875) [Wilson 177]. This story was similar to his Innocents Abroad material involving the public’s gullibility to artistic hoaxes.
October 27 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Emily A. Severance in Cleveland. The Severances had been cabin mates on the Quaker City. Sam had sent them a copy of Innocents and answered her thanks. Sam wrote he expected to be in Cleveland the next day on the way to Pittsburgh, but a derailment on Oct.
October 28 Thursday – James Redpath wrote to Sam: “We offered the date indicated by your telegram, by telegraph: but it did not suit / There is therefore no change in the schedule given before” [MTP].