Jump to Content

Add to My Citations To James Redpath
2 January 1872 • Logansport, Ind.
(MTL, 1:193–94, and three others, UCCL 00701)
Click to add citation to My Citations.

[Logansport, Ind. Jan. 2.]

[Friend Redpath—]

[Had a splendid time with a splendid audience in Indianapolis last [night—]a perfectly jammed [house,] just as I [have] all the time out here]. [I like [the new] [lecture] but I hate the [“Artemus Ward”] talk [&] won’t talk it any more]. [No man ever approved that choice of subject in my hearing, I think].1

[Give me some comfort. If I am to talk in New York am I going to have a good house?] [I don’t care now to have any appointments canceled.] [I’ll even [“fetch”] those Dutch Pennsylvanians with this lecture.] 2

[Have paid up [$4,000] indebtedness.3 You are the last on my list. Shall begin to pay you in a few [days] [&] then I shall be a free man again.] 4

[Yours,

Mark.]

Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary

Add to My Citations

Click to add citation to My Citations.
1 On the evening of 1 January Clemens arrived in Indianapolis and delivered “Roughing It in Nevada,” based on selections from his forthcoming book. The next day the Indianapolis Journal reported that he had addressed “a large, refined, and very appreciative audience, with the single exception of one young lady, who looked on mournfully while her neighbors were convulsed with laughter” (“Personal” and “Mark Twain,” 2 Jan 72, 4). Clemens had delivered this “new lecture”—the third since the start of his tour on 16 October—no more than a dozen times, and since its introduction on 7 December he had twice rewritten it, once after performing what he called “the germ of it” on 7 and 8 December (L4, 514), and again after the Chicago Tribune published a detailed synopsis of it on 20 and 24 December. While reworking “Roughing It” he fell back on his previous offering, “Artemus Ward, Humorist,” intermittently through 27 December. That lecture, first performed on 23 October, had received some stinging criticism from local reviewers, which no doubt reinforced his decision to replace it. Redpath prepared a new “Lyceum Circular” announcing “Roughing It,” with extracts from several early reviews so that lecture committees could “advertise it properly” (L4, 562). This new circular must have been available by 31 December, for on 1 January the Indianapolis Journal quoted one of its extracts in a lecture announcement (“Amusements,” 4; L4, 478, 480 n. 3, 481–82 n. 18, 482–83 n. 1, 486, 488 n. 1, 511–25 passim). For Clemens’s 1871–72 lecture schedule, and a facsimile of the circular for “Roughing It,” see L4, 557–63.

Add to My Citations

Click to add citation to My Citations.
2 On 11 December Clemens had expressed his concern to Redpath about the turnout expected for his 24 January lecture in New York City, asking George Fall to confirm that his appointment was indeed for a “regular course” selling “season tickets” (L4, 514). Redpath and Fall surely did so, perhaps in a letter Clemens replied to here, but failed to “comfort” him (see also 26 Jan 72 to Redpath). The previous October, Clemens had been unable to “fetch” the “chuckle-headed Dutch” of Bethlehem and Allentown, Pennsylvania, with the first lecture of his tour, “Reminiscences of Some un-Commonplace Characters I have Chanced to Meet” (L4, 472 n. 1, 474, 475 n. 1). He was now engaged to appear in seven other Pennsylvania towns, beginning with Kittanning on 12 January.

Add to My Citations

Click to add citation to My Citations.
3 Within the last two weeks, Clemens had paid the balance owed on $12,500 borrowed from Jervis Langdon in 1869 to purchase an interest in the Buffalo Express. He had also sent $300 to Olivia for their quarterly house rent and $300 to his mother in Fredonia (L4, 338–39 n. 3, 526–27).

Add to My Citations

Click to add citation to My Citations.
4 The Boston Lyceum Bureau charged its lecturers a 10 percent commission on all fees they collected from local committees. Clemens’s fees for the 1871–72 season, as recorded in his lecture appointment book, totaled $9,690 through the end of January. Not recorded there were the fees for his last three lectures, all in February, but they evidently added $200 to his total. He paid the commission in two installments, sending $704.69 on 13 January and $260 on 7 March, at the same time withholding $24.31 for unusual expenses he said the bureau itself should bear (Redpath and Fall, 1–16; 13 Jan 72 to OLC; 7 Mar 72 to Redpath and Fall; Eubank, 132).



glyphglyphSource text(s):glyph
No copy-text. The text is based on four transcriptions, each of which derives independently from the MS:
P1 Will M. Clemens, 29
P2 MTB, 1:444
P3 MTL, 1:193–94
P4 Anderson Galleries 1922, lot 236
The independence of P1 is assured by its date of publication, 1900. P2 and P3 (published respectively in 1912 and 1917) each include text not found in P1, and therefore must derive independently from the MS (see the Description of Texts). Two later printings—Horner in 1926 (170–71), and Cyril Clemens in 1942 (21)—both derive from P1, not from the MS.

glyphglyphPrevious publication:glyph L5, 1–2.

glyphglyphProvenance:glyphThe MS may have been owned (or merely borrowed) by Will Clemens before he published it in 1900. By 1922 it belonged to George H. Hart, who offered it for sale through Anderson Galleries.

glyphglyphEmendations, adopted readings, and textual notes:glyph

No copy-text. The text is based on four transcriptions, each of which derives independently from the MS:

The independence of P1 is assured by its date of publication, 1900. P2 and P3 (published respectively in 1912 and 1917) each include text not found in P1, and therefore must derive independently from the MS (see the Description of Texts). Two later printings—Horner in 1926 (170–71), and Cyril Clemens in 1942 (21)—both derive from P1, not from the MS.


Logansport, Ind. Jan. 2. (C) • Logansport, Ind., Jan. 2, 1872. (P1); Logansport, Ind. Jan. 2, 1872. (P3); [not in] (P2, P4)

[no] Friend Redpath— (C) • [no ¶] Friend Redpath: (P1); [] Friend Redpath,— (P3); to Mr. Redpath of the Boston Lyceum Bureau [reported, not quoted] (P4); [not in] (P2)

[] Had ... here. (P2) • [] Had ... here and (P1); [no ¶] Had ... here. (P3); [not in] (P4)

night— (P1, P3) • night; (P2)

house, (P2, P3) • house‸ (P1)

have (P1, P2) • have had (P3)

I like ... more. (P1, P3) • I like ... more‸ (P4); [not in] (P2)

the new (P1, P3) • this new (P4)

lecture (P1, P3) • lecture, (P4)

“Artemus Ward” (P3) • ‘Artemus Ward’ (P1); ‸Artemus Ward‸ (P4)

& (C) • and (P1, P3, P4)

No ... think. (P1, P3) • [not in] (P2, P4)

Give ... house? (P3) • [not in] (P1, P2, P4)

I ... canceled. (P2) • I ... cancelled. (P3); [not in] (P1, P4)

I’ll ... lecture. (P2, P3) • I’ll ... lecture ‸ (P4); [not in] (P1)

“fetch” (P2, P3) • ‸fetch‸ (P4)

Have ... again. (P2, P3) • [not in] (P1, P4)

$4,000 (P2) • $4000 (P3)

days (P3) • days, (P2)

& (C) • and (P2, P3)

Yours, | Mark. (C) • Yours, | Mark. (P1, P3); signed “Mark.” (P4); [not in] (P2)