Vol 3 Section 1140

May to July, 1895 – Sam wrote a sketch unpublished until 2009: “Frank Fuller and My First New York

Lecture” [Who Is Mark Twain? xxv; p. 5-30]. Note: name of the piece was assigned by the MTP.

May 18, 1895 addition – The Critic for Saturday, May 25, 1895 (p.392) ran the following short article on Mark Twain’s NY arrival, which gives us some idea of Clemens’ activities during the day and evening of his arrival back in New York:

—Mark Twain, who arrived from Europe on May 18, went to see the dramatization of “Pudd’nhead Wilson” for the first time on Saturday night last. Someone spied Mr. Clemens in his box and called upon him for a speech. “Never in my life,” he said, “have I been able to make a speech without preparation, and I assure you that this position in which I find myself is one totally unexpected. I have been hemmed in all to-day by W.D. Howells and other frivolous persons, and we have been talking everything in the world except that of which speeches are constructed. Then, too, seven days on the water is not conducive to speech-making. I will only say that I congratulate Mr. Mayo. He has certainly made a beautiful play out of my rubbish. His is a charming gift. Confidentially, I have always had an idea that I was well equipped to write plays, but I have never encountered a manager who agreed with me.” In August Mr. Clemens will start on a lecturing-tour around the world, which will end in May, 1896. San Francisco will be the starting-point…Wednesday night, by the way, was a “Mark Twain night” at the Herald Square Theatre, Mr. Clemens being present attended by a number of prominent literary people. He made a capital speech.

[Note: the article refers here to the May 22 speech Sam gave at the performance of PW play by Frank Mayo. It is notable that Sam would have gone to the theater in the evening, after just arriving in NY at 9 a.m. that day. The article somewhat awkwardly identifies the date of this appearance and speech as May 18, since from the article’s date, May 25, “Saturday night last” would have been May 18.] Added Oct. 28, 2010.

July 2, 1895 note: – For an interesting backstory on the “Wager Stones” see “Letters from Clara Stanchfield” in The Twainian 26.3 (May-June 1967 p.1 -3), which includes Clara’s letter to Paine of May 28, 1911, recounting her presence at the discussion on immortality between Sam and Mrs. Thomas K. Beecher.

July 19, 1895 addition – The Clemens party boarded the steamer T.S. Faxton for the short voyage to Mackinaw Island [Overland with MT 27-8].

July 26, 1895 addition – Winnipeg, Manitoba: several photographs were taken of the Clemens party and other unidentified ladies on the roof of the Hotel Manitoba and at the train station at Gretna, Manitoba [Overland with MT 31-6].

July 27, 1895 addition – Winnipeg, Manitoba: several photographs were taken of the Clemens party and the unidentified “young English gentlemen” at their “English host” and at a buffalo enclosure. Sam is not in these pictures, probably due to his other activities listed for this date [Overland with MT 37-9].

December 25, 1895 addition – The Lloyd family Sam spent time with in Stoningham, near Melbourne is identified as Mr. and Mrs. Charles Lloyd. Sam listed them in the “21 or 22” books he wanted Andrew Chatto to ship for him in his note of Feb. 1, 1897. Shortly after this request he sent a change of address for Mrs. Lloyd as Lissadurn, South Yarrow, Toorak Road, Melbourne [Feb. 1-3, 1897 to Chatto].

January 23, 1896 addition – In Bombay Sam wrote a letter endorsing Glimpses of India, a Grand Photographic History of the Land of Antiquity, the Vast Empire of the East¸ by J.H. Furneaux (1896). Kevin Mac Donnell’s entry for this book (Firsts Magazine 8.9 (Sept. 1998), p.41) states: “This English edition, limited to 1,000 numbered copies for American issue (designated the Imperial Edition) is the only one to contain Twain’s letter of endorsement, dated at Bombay, India, January 23, 1896. The previous editions contain no letter.