1 George Long Hutchings (1843?–1937), born in London, was a banker with the Merchants’ National Bank at 42 Wall Street in New York City, where this letter was directed. He had written Clemens in his capacity as the lecture committee chairman of the Clayonian Society of Newark, New Jersey, a position he held at least through 1871. Clemens was in Cleveland and St. Louis from 9 to 26 September, and in Elmira from 27 to 29 September, before returning to Hartford by way of New York, where he arrived on the morning of 30 September. He may have stopped overnight at the Everett House, where he had directed his mail since mid-August. Clemens had finished writing his “American Vandal Abroad” lecture by 7 October. He delivered it exclusively throughout his 1868–69 tour, appearing successfully before the Clayonian Society in Newark on 9 December 1868. His usual fee was $100 during the season, although he evidently had to pay his own expenses (“George L. Hutchings,” New York Times, 5 Dec 1937, sec. 2:9; H. Wilson 1869, 758; 21 Sept 69 and 1 Jan 70 to Hutchings, Appendix G; Redpath and Fall, 5–6; L2, 240, 242 n. 1, 246, 247 n. 1, 249 n. 1, 252–54 n. 1, 256, 257–58 n. 1, 262–65, 294, 320–21, 323–24 n. 4; L3, 44 n. 2, 481).