9 November 1874 • Hartford, Conn. (Hartford Courant, 12 Nov 74, UCCL 01145)
Dear RedpathⒶemendation:—Rev. J. H. Twichell & Ⓐemendation I expect to start at 8 o’clock Thursday morning, to walk to Boston in 24 hours—or more.1explanatory note We shall telegraph Young’s hotel2explanatory note for rooms for Saturday night, in order to allow for a low average of pedestrianism.
In 1908, Clemens recalled this “memorable excursion,” a projected walk of over one hundred miles, claiming that “Twichell proposed it, and I thoughtlessly said yes” (see 20 Nov 74 to Howells [1st], n. 7click to open link). Redpath evidently did not yet know Twichell, although he had recently attempted to meet him: on 27 October he had called on Twichell, bearing a note of introduction from Joseph Hawley. Redpath wanted Twichell to introduce Henry Ward Beecher’s lecture “Upper and Under,” about American social classes, at Roberts Opera House that evening. Twichell was not home when Redpath called, however, and another commitment kept him from introducing Beecher (Twichell, 1:6–7; Hartford Courant: “Amusements,” 27 Oct 74, 1; “Mr. Beecher’s Lecture,” 28 Oct 74, 2).
One of Boston’s best small hotels (see L3 , 395 n. 4).
The Hartford Courant—one of several newspapers to print a version of this letter—noted: “The following letter was received in Boston yesterday at Redpath’s Lyceum Bureau” (“Hartford Pedestrians,” 12 Nov 74, 2; see the textual commentary).
References
- Machlis, Paul, ed. Union Catalog of Clemens Letters. Edited by Paul Machlis. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press. [In some cases, UCCL catalog numbers cited in this volume supersede those assigned in 1986 and reflect corrections or additions to the catalog since publication. An updated version of the catalog can be consulted via the Letters Search page at MTPO.] 1986
- Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, New Haven, Conn.
- SLC (Samuel Langhorne Clemens). Mark Twain’s Letters, Volume 6: 1874–1875. Edited by Michael B. Frank and Harriet Elinor Smith. The Mark Twain Papers. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Also online at MTPO[bib32371]. 2002
- Paine, Albert Bigelow. Mark Twain: A Biography. By Albert Bigelow Paine. 3 vols. New York: Harper and Brothers. [Volume numbers in citations are to this edition; page numbers are the same in all editions.] 1912
- Paine, Albert Bigelow, ed. Mark Twain’s Letters. Edited by Albert Bigelow Paine. 2 vols. New York: Harper and Brothers. 1917
- SLC (Samuel Langhorne Clemens). Mark Twain’s Letters, Volume 3: 1869. Edited by Victor Fischer, Michael B. Frank, and Dahlia Armon. The Mark Twain Papers. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Also online at MTPO[bib32371]. 1992
“Hartford Pedestrians,” Hartford Courant, 12 Nov 74, 2, clipping in Twichell, 1:14, Joseph H. Twichell Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University (CtY-BR). Although it seems likely that this letter first appeared in a Boston newspaper, no earlier Boston printing has been found, nor one that includes the dateline. The Courant text is therefore preferred, despite the likelihood that it is a reprinting.
L6 , 275; “About Town,” Boston Advertiser, 12 Nov 74, 1; “Mark Twain,” Boston Evening Transcript, 12 Nov 74, 2; “City and Suburbs,” Boston Globe, 12 Nov 74, paraphrase; “Local Varieties,” Boston Herald (evening edition), 12 Nov 74, 4; “Minor Items,” Hartford Times, 12 Nov 74, 2; “Brief Jottings,” Boston Evening Transcript, 13 Nov 74, 4, brief excerpt; MTB , 1:527; MTL , 1:231.
Twichell’s papers were passed on to his children. Although CtY received some items in 1951 from Joseph H. Twichell and Mrs. Charles Ives, his son and daughter, the main collection was donated in 1967 by Charles P. Twichell, his grandson.
More information on provenance may be found in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.