Clemens vowed that he would not lecture in America that winter. The irrepressible Redpath besieged him as usual, and at the end of January Clemens telegraphed him, as he thought, finally. Following it with a letter of explanation, he added:
“I said to her, ‘There isn’t money enough in America to hire me to leave you for one day.’”1
Explanatory Notes
I find I don’t like the idea of buckling
in on another long siege in New York after this heavy one. So what I
want to do, is, to talk in Steinway Hall on a Thursday,
& Friday evenings, Saturday
afternoon (& possibly
)
Saturday night. Then talk possibly Monday & Tuesday in
Boston & retire permanently from
the platform—for it is my very
last. Any time in February will suit me. How does it strike
you? (L5, 523) He was still committed to that plan when he reached
Boston on 26 January, for the Boston Evening
Transcript reported: He might have gone on lecturing indefinitely in
London if he had not been obliged to meet certain platform
engagements at home. He will fulfill these latter engagements
shortly. They comprise two or three lectures in New York and Boston,
after which Mr. Clemens intends to retire from the platform
permanently. (“Return of Mark Twain,” 26 Jan
74, 4) Clemens may have met with Redpath in Boston that day to
discuss potential lecture dates. But soon after he arrived in Hartford
on 27 January his wife prevailed on him to withdraw. That decision held
only until 1 February, when, having won her consent to a briefer
commitment, Clemens wrote Redpath with a new proposal (“Brief
Mention,” Hartford Courant, 28 Jan 74,
2).
Source text(s):Previous publication:
L6, 21.
