To
Frederick F. Low and Others
6 December 1866 • San Francisco, Calif.
(San Francisco Alta California, 8 Dec 66, UCCL 00115)
San Francisco, December 6, 1866.
His Excellency Gov. Low, Gov. Blasdel, Gen. Wm. H. French, Hon. Ogden Hoffman, Etc.1—Gentlemen: I cannot too highly appreciate the invitation you have honored me with, coming, as it does, from citizens who rarely permit their names to be used in this manner, and I gratefully accept your call. San Francisco has already given me a reception or two which I may be pardoned for feeling very proud of, and whether I have deserved this further generosity or not, I shall none the less industriously endeavor to persuade strangers that I have, anyhow.
I shall be happy to repeat my first lecture at CONGRESS HALL, Bush street, just above Montgomery, on MONDAY EVENING, December 10th, and will do my best, on that [occasion], to merit the high favor you have shown me.2
Very respectfully,
Your obliged servant,
MARK TWAIN.
Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary
San Francisco, December 5th, 1866. Mark Twain, Esq.—Sir: Several of
the undersigned were present, two months ago, when you delivered
your first Lecture on the Sandwich Islands, and would like much
to hear it again; the remainder were unable to attend at that
time, and desire that you will afford them the pleasure thus
forfeited. Therefore, for these reasons, and also as a testimony
to the strangers among whom you are going, of the esteem in
which your abilities are held among your friends here at home,
we invite you to repeat that Lecture before your departure for
the Eastern States, and request that in your reply to this note
you will name the day which will be most convenient for the
purpose. (“Correspondence,” San Francisco
Alta California, 8 Dec 66, 2) Clemens gave satisfaction with this repeat performance.
The Alta California remarked on 11 December:
“In every respect, whether in regard to the subject matter of
the lecture, manner of delivery, and amendment of some blemishes
apparent on the first occasion, this lecture was a decided
success” (“‘Mark
Twain’s’ Lecture,” 1). Clemens
concluded with a “farewell” in which he gave his
“sincerest thanks and acknowledgments” for the
“extreme kindness and cordiality” San Francisco
had shown him, and predicted a brilliant future for the city
(“‘Mark Twain’s’
Farewell,” San Francisco Alta
California, 15 Dec 66, 2, in Benson, 212–13).
Source text(s):Previous publication:
L1, 372–373; MTH, 449–50.
Provenance:The MS is not known to survive.
Emendations and textual notes:
occasion • occrsion
