per Telegraph Operator
11 or 12 November 1870 • Buffalo, N.Y. (Paraphrase: Boston Morning Journal, 14 Nov 70, UCCL 11818)
Mark Twain sent a telegraphic dispatch, saying that he was busily engaged in singing “Rock Me to Sleep, Father,” and could not possibly attend.1explanatory note
Clemens responded to the following telegram from White—a reporter for the Boston Morning Journal and secretary of the Boston Press Club—which reached Buffalo on the evening of 11 November and was preserved in Olivia Clemens’s commonplace book: “‘The press club” Sups tomorrow Eve. Come and bring the Baby” (CU-MARK). The occasion was the club’s annual dinner, at Young’s Hotel, known for “its choice table” ( L3 , 395 n. 4; Boston Directory 1870, 692). The Morning Journal of 14 November may have paraphrased the actual telegram received by White. The paraphrase printed the same day in both the Boston Advertiser and the Evening Transcript almost certainly derived from a reporter’s transcription of the telegram as it was read aloud:
Mark Twain begged to be excused on account of an engagement to perform to the tune of “Rock Me to Sleep.” (“The Boston Press Club Dinner”: Boston Advertiser, 1; Boston Evening Transcript, 4)
“Rock Me to Sleep, Mother,” first published in 1860, had words by Elizabeth Anne Chase Akers Allen (pseudonym Florence Percy; 1832–1911) and music by Obadiah Bruen Brown (pseudonym Ernest Leslie; 1829–1901) ( NAW , 1:36–38; NUC , 79:275–76, 328:239; NCAB , 12:256).
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
- SLC (Samuel Langhorne Clemens). Mark Twain’s Letters, Volume 4: 1870–1871. Edited by Victor Fischer, Michael B. Frank, and Lin Salamo. The Mark Twain Papers. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Also online at MTPO[bib32371]. 1995
- University of California, Mark Twain Papers, The Bancroft Library, Berkeley
- 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
- Notable American Women, 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary. Edited by Edward T. James, Janet Wilson James, and Paul S. Boyer. 3 vols. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. 1971
- NUC. The National Union Catalog Pre-1956 Imprints. With supplements. 754 vols. London: Mansell Publishing. 1968–81
- NCAB. The National Cyclopedia of American Biography. Vols. 1–62, A–M, index. New York: James T. White and Co. 1898–1984
Paraphrase, “The Press Supper,” Boston Morning Journal, 14 Nov 70, 2.
L4 , 235; “The Boston Press Club Dinner,” Boston Evening Transcript, 14 Nov 70, 4; “The Boston Press Club Dinner,” Boston Advertiser, 14 Nov 70, 1; both paraphrases.