Autobiography of Mark Twain (136 page)

151.3–7 he often went out with me ... “lecture season.”] Clemens enjoyed Keeler’s company in November 1871, while on a lecture tour that lasted from mid-October 1871 to late February 1872. Between 31 October and 17 November Clemens appeared twice in Boston and in several nearby towns (
L4:
1 Nov 1871 to OLC, 484, 485–86 n. 3; “Lecture Schedule, 1871–72,” 557–60).

151.7–8 James Redpath’s Bureau in School street, Boston] See “Lecture-Times,” note at 148.8. The bureau opened on 29 Bromfield Street, and in 1871 moved to 36 Bromfield. It was never on School Street (Eubank 1969, 105).

151.12–14 Henry Ward Beecher ... English astronomer ... Parsons, Irish orator] The following people were on one or more of Redpath’s lists of available lecturers between 1869 and 1873: Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87), the famous liberal pastor of Plymouth Church in Brooklyn; Anna Dickinson (1842–1932), an eloquent promoter of women’s rights; John B. Gough (1817–86), a temperance advocate; Wendell Phillips (1811–84), a social reformer; John H. Vincent (1832–1920), a religious educator; and William Parsons, an orator on literary and historical subjects. For Petroleum V. Nasby (David Ross Locke), Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw), and Isaac I. Hayes, who were also among Redpath’s clients, see “Lecture-Times,” notes at 146.1–5, 148.21, and 149.13–14. Horace Greeley, one of the most popular speakers on the lecture circuit, was not on Redpath’s “regular” list but may have been one of the clients for whom he planned special engagements in large cities. The name of the “English astronomer” evidently escaped Clemens’s memory; a space for a name remains in the manuscript. He may have been Richard A. Proctor (1837–88), a renowned author and astronomer who made his first American lecture tour in 1873–74 but did not appear on Redpath’s list until many years later (
Lyceum
1871, 29–34; Eubank 1969, 241, 295–301; Chicago
Tribune:
“ ‘Self-Made Men,’ ” 21 Sept 1871, 4; “Prof. Proctor’s Lectures,” 26 Feb 1874; Pond 1900, 178–79, 347).

151.14 Agassiz] Swiss-born Harvard naturalist Louis Agassiz (1807–73) and his less famous son, Alexander (1835–1910), were both active on the lecture circuit. Clemens heard the younger Agassiz speak at Newport in 1875, but neither man was on Redpath’s roster (link note following 29? July 1875 to Redpath,
L6
, 521–22).

151.29–152.2 Kate Field ... forgotten of the world] Field (1838–96) began her career as a journalist in 1859, writing letters from Italy to several American newspapers. Her first work for the New York
Tribune
was a series of articles on the 1866 American tour of Italian actress Adelaide Ristori, which led to an assignment to cover Charles Dickens’s second (and last) American reading tour. Her reviews were expanded and collected in
Pen Photographs of Charles Dickens’s Readings
(Field 1868). She made her debut as a lecturer in 1869, reading her essay “Woman in the Lyceum,” and continued to appear on the platform for most of her life. After an unsuccessful attempt at acting, in 1890 she started a newspaper,
Kate Field’s Washington
, and was its principal writer. In 1895 she went to Hawaii for her health, and died there of pneumonia (Scharnhorst 2004, 159–61; “Miss Kate Field on ‘Woman in the Lyceum,’ ” New York
Times
, 4 May 1869, 5; Field 1996, xxii–xxv, xxviii, xxix–xxx; 30 Jan 1871 to Redpath,
L4
, 323–24 n. 3).

152.3–7 Olive Logan’s notoriety ... her husband, who was a small-salaried minor journalist] Olive Logan (1839–1909), the daughter of a comedian and dramatist, enjoyed some success as an actress until her retirement from the stage in 1868. She published several books, the most successful of which was
Before the Footlights and Behind the Scenes
, an account of theater life. For two seasons, from 1869 to 1871, she was engaged by the Redpath Lyceum, offering lectures such as “The Passions,” “Paris, City of Luxury,” and “Girls,” which promoted women’s rights. In December 1871, Logan (who was divorced) married her second husband, William Wirt Sikes (1836–83). He worked as a journalist for several newspapers in New York State and contributed stories to periodicals such as
Harper’s Monthly
and
The Youth’s Companion
. Like his wife, Sikes lectured for Redpath from 1869 to 1871, delivering “The Peculiar Perils of Great Cities” and “After Dark in New York,” in which he described “dangerous haunts of vice and crime.” In 1876 he was appointed U.S. consul at Cardiff, Wales, and later wrote works about the history and folklore of the region (
Lyceum
1870, 9, 15; 8 Jan 1870 to OLL [1st],
L4
, 9 n. 3; Olive Logan 1870; see also AD, 11 Apr 1906).

153.8–9 after the first season I always introduced myself—using, of course, a burlesque of the time-worn introduction] Clemens began introducing himself during the winter of 1869–70, while on his second eastern lecture tour (the first that Redpath arranged). On 8 December, in Washington, he announced that since he “knew considerably more about himself than anybody else, he thought he was better qualified to perform that ceremony. He had studied the usual form, and he thought he had finally mastered it” (“Mark Twain’s Savages,” Washington [D.C.]
Morning Chronicle
, 9 Dec 1869, 4). Several days later, in Meriden, Connecticut, he opened with the speech that became his standard introduction for the rest of the season, with slight variations:

I have the pleasure of introducing to you Mr. Samuel Clemens, otherwise Mark Twain, a gentleman whose high character and unimpeachable veracity are only surpassed by his personal comeliness and native modesty. [Applause, for the audience began to smell a rat and take him for the lecturer.] And, continued he, with the utmost
sang froid
, I am the gentleman referred to. I suppose I ought to ask pardon for breaking the usual custom on such occasions and introducing myself, but it could not be avoided, as the gentleman who was to introduce me did not know my real name, hence I relieved him of his duties. (“Mark Twain’s Lecture,” Meriden
Republican
, 13 Dec 1869, 2)

153.21–26 introduction taken from my Californian experiences ...
I don’t know why
] Clemens began his 1871–72 lecture tour in mid-October with the same introduction he had used in 1869–70 (see the note at 153.8–9). By 1 December, however, he had adopted the new one. He had lectured in the mining town of Red Dog, California, on 24 October 1866 (“Our Lecture Course,” Oswego [N.Y.]
Commercial Advertiser and Times
, 2 Dec 1871, 4; “Mark Twain,” Easton [Pa.]
Express
, 24 Nov 1871; link note following 25 Aug 1866 to Bowen,
L1
, 362; see also
MTB
, 1:295).

154.27–31 one of Ossawatomie Brown’s brothers ... tragedy of 1859 ...
Atlantic Monthly
] Militant abolitionist John Brown earned the nickname “Ossawatomie” from his battles against
proslavery forces near the Kansas town of that name. Keeler interviewed two of Brown’s sons on their Ohio farm, located on Put-in-Bay Island in Lake Erie. The younger son, Owen, had been with his father at the failed attack on the U.S. armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), in 1859. Brown was captured and executed for treason, but Owen was among those who escaped, and he told Keeler of his experiences on that night, and during the following days, in great detail. Keeler’s long article in the
Atlantic Monthly
was published posthumously, in March 1874 (Keeler 1874).

154.35–41 the
Tribune
commissioned Keeler to go to Cuba ... that was what had happened] In 1868, Cuba began a war of rebellion against Spain—known as the Ten Years’ War—which was ultimately unsuccessful. Although the United States remained neutral in the conflict, there was widespread sympathy for the rebellion among Americans. In October 1873 the Spanish captured the
Virginius
, a ship transporting arms to the insurgents, and executed over fifty of the men on board, many of whom were Americans. In late November Keeler traveled to Cuba as a correspondent for the New York
Tribune
, and over the next few weeks submitted several letters about the crisis. At the start of his return trip in mid-December, he disappeared from a steamship in Cuban waters. Although his fate was never known, it was believed that he was assassinated as a result of the violent anti-American sentiment arising from the
Virginius
incident. Howells, who eulogized Keeler in the March 1874 issue of the
Atlantic Monthly
, speculated that he had been “stabbed and thrown into the sea” by a Spanish officer who discovered that he was an American journalist (Halstead 1897, 41, 49; Howells 1874a, 366).

155.5 my sister] Pamela, who turned twenty-two on 13 September 1849; see the Appendix “Family Biographies” (p. 655).

155.13 black slave boy, Sandy] Sandy was owned by “a master back in the country” but was hired out to work for the Clemenses (“Jane Lampton Clemens,”
Inds
, 89; see also “My Autobiography [Random Extracts from It]”).

157.7–8 one whom I will call Mary Wilson] The real “Mary” was Sarah H. Robards (1836–1918); she and her brothers George and John were all Hannibal schoolmates of Clemens’s, and she studied piano with his sister Pamela (see AD, 8 Mar 1906, note at 399.28–29, and AD, 9 Mar 1906, note at 401.7–16). Clemens recalled her in his 1902 notebook: “Sally Robards—pret[t]y. Describe her now in her youth & again in 50 ys After when she reveals herself” (Notebook 45, TS p. 21, CU-MARK). She married riverboat pilot and captain Barton Stone Bowen, the brother of William Bowen, who was probably Clemens’s closest childhood friend (
Inds
, 304–5, 345).

157.12–13 It was in 1896. I arrived there on my lecturing trip] Clemens reached Calcutta on his world lecture tour in February 1896 (see “Something about Doctors,” note at 190.10–12.

157.16–17 grand-daughter of the other Mary] After the death of her first husband, Barton
Bowen, in 1868, Sarah Robards married the Reverend H. H. Haley. The granddaughter has not been identified (
Inds
, 345;
Robards Family Genealogy
2009, part 14:65).

157.36–37 drunken tramp—mentioned in “Tom Sawyer” or “Huck Finn”—who was burned up in the village jail] This incident does not occur in either book, although there is an oblique allusion to it in chapter 23 of
Tom Sawyer
, where Tom and Huck give some matches to Muff Potter when he is in jail. Chapter 56
of Life on the Mississippi
, however, contains a dramatic account of the tramp’s death and Clemens’s subsequent struggle with his conscience.

158.5 shooting down of poor old Smarr in the main street] William Perry Owsley murdered Sam Smarr (b. 1788) in 1845. Smarr, a beef farmer, was described as a generally peaceful man who became abusive when drunk. He offended Owsley by accusing him of stealing $2,000 from a friend, and by repeatedly insulting him and threatening his life. Owsley, a wealthy merchant, shot Smarr to death in a Hannibal street before many witnesses, but was acquitted of the crime. In “Villagers of 1840–3” (1897) Clemens wrote that after the trial his “party brought him huzzaing in from Palmyra at midnight. But there was a cloud upon him—a social chill—and presently he moved away” (
Inds
, 101, 339–40, 348). He recreated the incident in chapter 21 of
Huckleberry Finn
, where Colonel Sherburn shoots “old Boggs” (see
HF 2003
, 436). In a letter of 11 January 1900 Clemens recalled, “I can’t ever forget Boggs, because I saw him die, with a family Bible spread open on his breast” (11 Jan 1900 to Goodrich-Freer, ViU).

158.15–16 slave man who was struck down ... I saw him die] In “Jane Lampton Clemens” (1890), Clemens recalled:

There were no hard-hearted people in our town—I mean there were no more than would be found in any other town of the same size in any other country; and in my experience hard-hearted people are very rare everywhere. Yet I remember that once when a white man killed a negro man for a trifling little offence everybody seemed indifferent about it—as regarded the slave—though considerable sympathy was felt for the slave’s owner, who had been bereft of valuable property by a worthless person who was not able to pay for it. (
Inds
, 89)

158.16–18 young Californian emigrant who was stabbed ... I saw the red life gush from his breast] Clemens noted in 1897 that all emigrants “went through there. One stabbed to death—saw him.... Saw the corpse in my father’s office” (Autobiographical Fragment #160, CU-MARK). The body was carried to the office of John Marshall Clemens, the justice of the peace; Clemens saw it because he was hiding there to avoid being punished for skipping school. He recalled this traumatic experience repeatedly, in lectures and writings. See, for example, chapter 18 of
The Innocents Abroad:
“I put my hands over my eyes and counted till I could stand it no longer, and then—the pallid face of a man was there, with the corners of the mouth drawn down, and the eyes fixed and glassy in death!” (
Inds
, 101, 284).

158.18 young Hyde brothers and their harmless old uncle] Richard (Dick) Hyde (b. 1830?) and his brother Ed were ruffians whom Clemens described in “Villagers of 1840–3” as
”tough and dissipated.” The brothers—or perhaps Richard and another brother, Henry—were the models for the Stover brothers in “Hellfire Hotchkiss” (
Inds
, 96, 327).

158.22–25 young Californian emigrant who got drunk ... blameless daughter] Clemens’s recollection of this incident, which occurred in 1850, varies slightly from the account published in the Hannibal
Missouri Courier
, the newspaper where Clemens worked as a “printer’s devil” at the time: