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29–30 November 1871 • ?Newark, N.J.
(Paraphrase: Redpath to SLC, 18 Jan 72, CU-MARK, UCCL 11823)
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Well, Troy had telegraphed for Feb. 8. We telegraphed you. You answered with a “word with a bark to it—No”1
Explanatory Notes
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1
Clemens probably barked from Newark, where he lectured on 29 November.
Having no lecture scheduled on 30 November—which was
Thanksgiving Day as well as his thirty-sixth birthday—he
could have remained part of the day in Newark before making the long
train trip to Oswego, New York, to lecture on 1 December. The curtness
of his response may be set down to his extreme reluctance to extend his
tour much into February—and to his having just committed
himself to a lecture in Troy on the first of that month. Apparently in
December, in a telegram now lost, he complicated matters by
absent-mindedly agreeing to lecture in Paterson, New Jersey, on 1
February. (He was yielding to the importunities of a Paterson lecture
committee that had been waiting since August for confirmation of an
early February date.) Redpath managed to reschedule the Paterson lecture
for 31 January (7 Jan 72 to Redpath, Axelrod; Redpath to SLC, 18 Jan 72, CU-MARK).
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Paraphrase in MS, James Redpath to SLC, 18 Jan 72 (UCLC 31791), Mark Twain Papers, The Bancroft
Library, University of California, Berkeley (CU-MARK).
Previous publication:
L4, 503.