{
Private.
Click to add citation to My Citations.
Davenport, Iowa
Jan.
14
My Dear Sister:
I lectured here [to-night]—& have lately lectured in several Michigan towns, & in Akron, Ohio, Fort Wayne, Ind., Indianapolis, Rockford, Monmouth, Galesburg, Chicago, Peoria, Decatur, & Ottawa, Ill—[ & a ] lecture every night—& now have to talk in Iowa City, Sparta, Wis., Toledo, Ohio, Norwalk, Cleveland, & a lot of places in Illinois, Michigan, & New York City & New York State, & am getting awfully tired of it.1 I spend about half as much money as I make, I think, though I have managed to save about a thousand dollars, so far—don’t think I shall save more than a thousand more.2
One of Mrs. Pavey’s daughters (she married a doctor & is living in an Illinois town & has sons larger than I am,) was in the audience at Peoria. Had a long talk with her. She came many miles to be there.3 Saw a nephew of Tom Collins in Decatur.4
The Societies all want to engage me to lecture for them next year, but [end of page]
[two-thirds of MS page (about 65 words) missing]
That is all of the private.5 Had a letter from Miss Lou Conrad the other day—was near where she lives, but had not time to go there.6
What do you think of Norwich, N. Y., for a home? I think it will exactly suit you. You can run to New York or visit the sea-side whenever you please, from there.7
No, you can’t board & lodge in New York City in any sort of respectable & comfortable style for less than $25 to $35 a week apiece.
In the spring go yourself, or send Orion8—or both of you go—to Norwich, & you will rent or buy a house & be delighted. I only wish I could live [there. I ] am to lecture every night till Feb. 2. Shall be in Cleveland, Ohio, one day only—Jan. 22.
Affectionately
Sam.
Love to all.
Explanatory Notes | Textual Commentary
Click to add citation to My Citations. 1
For the dates of Clemens’s appearances in these places, see
the Lecture
Schedule, 1868–1870.
Click to add citation to My Citations. 2
Between 17 November 1868, when his tour began, and the date of this
letter, Clemens’s gross earnings were at least
$2,300. He earned a fee of $100 for each
performance, but evidently paid his own travel, lodging, and meal costs.
As befitted a newcomer to the field, his normal fee was half that of
some of his competitors, such as Petroleum Vesuvius Nasby (20 and
21 Jan 69 to OLL, n. 1; L2, 246, 282, 294).
Click to add citation to My Citations. 3
Jesse H. Pavey (1798?–1853), a brutal Hannibal tavern keeper
during Clemens’s youth, and his wife, Catharine (b. 1800?),
had a large family that included at least seven daughters.
Clemens’s visitor might have been any one of four of
them—Julia, Sarah, Fanny, or Susan. In 1897, in
“Villagers of 1840–3,” he identified
her as “Mrs. Strong.” The Paveys had left Hannibal
for St. Louis by mid-1850. In 1855, while working in St. Louis as a
printer, Clemens boarded with the widowed Catharine Pavey (for his
recollections of this family, see Inds, 98–99, 340–41).
Click to add citation to My Citations. 4
Thomas K. Collins (1822–85), a dry goods merchant, was one of
Hannibal’s foremost businessmen (Inds, 94, 102, 315). His nephew has not been identified.
Click to add citation to My Citations. 5
Pamela must have torn away the top two-thirds of this page, which
presumably contained Clemens’s progress report on his
courtship, even before passing the letter on to other members of the
family in St. Louis. She thereby complied with his November 1868 request
for strict confidentiality—“I make no
exceptions” (L2, 295).
Click to add citation to My Citations. 6
Clemens sent Louisa Conrad’s letter to Olivia Langdon (see
7 Jan 69 to OLL from Chicago, n. 5).
Click to add citation to My Citations. 7
Clemens repeated his previous recommendation (of 24 December) that his
sister move with her family to Norwich, in Chenango County, New York,
approximately 140 miles from New York City (L2, 326–27, 348). She now lived with her mother, two
children, and the family’s German maid, Margaret, at 1312
Chesnut Street in St. Louis, where she also took in boarders. The family
remained at that address until May 1869, the first of several moves
within St. Louis. In April 1870, they moved to Fredonia, in westernmost
New York, close to Lake Erie and about forty miles from
Clemens’s Buffalo home (11 May 69 to JLC; 1 Apr
70 to Jervis and Olivia Lewis Langdon, TS in CU-MARK; 21 Apr 70 to OC, CU-MARK; Richard Edwards 1868, 537, 953; Richard Edwards 1869, 569; MTBus, 47, 103, 112).
Click to add citation to My Citations. 8
Orion and Mollie Clemens apparently lived in St. Louis throughout 1869
(with Mollie sometimes visiting her parents in Keokuk, Iowa). It is not
known whether they were currently living with Pamela.
Source text(s):MS, Jean Webster McKinney Family Papers, Vassar College Library
(NPV). The surviving MS consists of three
and one-third leaves, inscribed on the rectos only. Pages 1, 2, and 4 survive
intact, but the top two-thirds of page 3 was cut off, doubtless by Pamela
Moffett, and does not survive. No characters or portions of characters from the
excised portion remain on the surviving third.
Previous publication:
L3, 43–44; MTBus, 103–4, with omission.
Provenance:see McKinney Family Papers, pp. 583–85.
Emendations and textual notes:
to-night • to-|night
& a • [‘a’ over ‘&’]
there. I • there.—|I
