18 November 1865
Clemens published this sketch in the Californian on 18 November 1865, the same day that the New York Saturday Press published “Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog” (no. 119). He did not contribute to the Californian again until “The Christmas Fireside” (no. 148) was published on December 23.
On November 4 the California Steam Navigation Company launched its new steamboat, the Capital, which had been built to replace the old Antelope in the San Francisco–Sacramento trade and represented the latest in riverboat architecture and fittings. The San Francisco Evening Bulletin reported that the launch had been successfully completed “at the Potrero this morning, in the presence of several thousand spectators.”
The ferry-boat San Antonio took out a large party of ladies and gentlemen to witness the launch, and the waters of the bay in the vicinity of the Potrero were thickly spotted with yachts, sail-boats and row boats filled with pleasure parties, while the hill-sides in the neighborhood of the yard were covered with spectators of both sexes. . . . At precisely 11½ oclock, the time advertised for the launch, the last of the stays was knocked away, the signal gun was fired, and the steamer glided slowly down the ways into the water amid the cheers of the spectators, mingled with the strains of music from the band on board the San Antonio, which struck up the appropriate air of Life on the Ocean Wave. The gradual descent from the ways gave an impetus sufficient only to send the boat a hundred yards or less into the water, but the swan-like gracefulness with which she rode the waves and the beauty and symmetry of her model won the admiration of all beholders.
Similar accounts appeared in the Morning Call and the Alta California.1
Scorning all such “inevitable old platitudinal trash,” Clemens here set out to deliver an account of the launch “which should astonish and delight the whole intellectual world—which should dissect, analyze, and utterly exhaust the subject—which should serve for a model in this species of literature for all time to come.” In fact, he returned to his time-worn ploy of promising to deliver what he never intended to write. The drinking session with Muff Nickerson and various gentlemen from Reese River, Excelsior, and Mud Springs is only a frame for the inset story of the scriptural panoramist, told, as Clemens says, “in Mr. Nickerson's own language.” Nickerson does not affect Simon Wheeler's deadpan manner, but his narrative is thoroughly vernacular both in language and in the familiar antithesis between the “moral religious show” conceived by the panoramist and the “old mud-dobber” pianist, whose perfectly good intentions lead him to play unabashedly secular songs for a solemn occasion—“Life on the Ocean Wave” for Christ's walk on the Sea of Galilee, for instance.
Clemens and Webb decided to reprint the sketch in the 1867 Jumping Frog book, and it was probably Webb who made several cuts in the frame story. When the book was reprinted by the Routledges in England, Tom Hood reviewed it favorably in Fun and said in part: “In several of the sketches we get a charming insight into American usages. We are told, for instance, that young ‘bucks and heifers’ always come it strong on panoramas because it ‘gives them a chance of tasting one another's mugs in the dark.’ Our readers will hardly recognise the seductive process of osculation in this expression.”2Unaware of this praise, Clemens proceeded to revise out the passage referred to when he reprinted the sketch in England in 1872. And he continued to tone down the slang and the colorful language of the original, saying at one point that it was “too vigorous for repetition, and is better left out.” The sketch that he ultimately reprinted in Sketches, New and Old as “The Scriptural Panoramist” had lost not only much of its original language, but the whole of the frame story. The original version is, of course, reprinted here: the author's revisions of his text are described in the textual commentary.
I get Mr. Muff Nickerson Ⓔexplanatory note to go with Me and Assist Ⓐemendation in Reporting the Great Steamboat Launch. He Relates the Interesting History of the Travelling Panoramist.
I was just starting off to see the launch of the great steamboat Capital, on Saturday week, when I came across Mulph, Mulff, Muff, Mumph, Murph, Mumf, Murf, Mumford, Mulford, Murphy Nickerson—(he is well known to the public by all these names, and I cannot say which is the right one)—bound on the same errand. He said that if there was one thing he took more delight in than another, it was a steamboat launch; he would walk miles to see one, any day; he had seen a hundred thousand steamboat launches in his time, and hoped he might live to see a hundred thousand more; he knew all about them; knew everything— everythingⒶemendation connected with them—said he “had it all down to a scratch;” he could explain the whole process in minute detail; to the uncultivated eye a steamboat-launch presented nothing grand, nothing startling, nothing beautiful, nothing romantic, or awe-inspiringⒶemendation or sublime—but to an optic like his (which saw not the dull outer coating, but the radiant gem it hid from other eyes,) it presented all these—and behold, he had power to lift the veil and display the vision even unto the uninspired. He couldⒶemendation do this by [begin page 362] word of mouth—by explanation and illustration. Let a man stand by his side, and to him that launch should seem arrayedⒶemendation in the beauty and the glory of enchantment!Ⓐhistorical collation
This was the man I wanted. I could see that plainly enough. There would be many reporters present at the launch, and the papers would teem with the inevitable old platitudinal trash which this sort of people have compelled to do duty on every occasion like this since Noah launched his ark—but I aspired to higher things. I wanted to write a report which should astonish and delight the whole intellectual world—which should dissect, analyze, and utterly exhaust the subject—which should serve for a model in this species of literature for all time to come. I dropped alongside of Mr. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. Nickerson, and we went to the launch together.Ⓐhistorical collation
We set out in a steamer whose decks were crowded with persons of all ages, who were happy in their nervous anxiety to behold the novelty of a steamboat launch. I tried not to pity them, but I could not help whispering to myself, “These poor devils will see nothing but some stupid boards and timbers nailed together—a mere soulless hulk—sliding into the water!”Ⓐhistorical collation
As we approached the spot where the launch was to take place, a gentleman from Reese River, by the name of Thompson, came up, with several friends, and said he had been prospecting on the main deck, and had found an object of interest—a bar. This was all very well, and showed him to be a man of parts—but like many another man who produces a favorable impression by an introductory remark replete with wisdom, he followed it up with a vain and unnecessary question—Would we take a drink? This to me!—This to M. M. M., etc., Nickerson!
We proceeded, two-by-two, arm-in-arm, down to the bar in the nether regions, chatting pleasantly and elbowing the restless multitude. We took pure, cold, health-giving water, with some other things in it, and clinked our glasses together, and were about to drink, when Smith, of Excelsior, drew forth his handkerchief and wiped away a tear; and then, noticing that the action had excited some attention, he explained it by recounting a most affecting incident in the history of a venerated aunt of his—now deceased—and said that, although long years had passed since the [begin page 363] touching event he had narrated, he could never take a drink without thinking of the kind-heartedⒶemendation old lady.
Mr. Nickerson blew his nose, and said with deep emotion that it gave him a better opinion of human nature to see a man who had had a good aunt, eternally and forever thinking about her.
This episode reminded Jones, of Mud Springs, of a circumstance which happened many years ago in the home of his childhood, and we held our glasses untouched and rested our elbows on the counter, while we listened with raptⒶhistorical collation attention to his story.
There was something in it about a good natured, stupid man, and this reminded Thompson of Reese River of a person of the same kind whom he had once fallen in with while travelling through the back-settlements of one of the Atlantic States, and we postponed drinking until he should give us the facts in the case. The hero of the tale had unintentionally created some consternation at a camp-meeting by one of his innocent asinine freaks, and this reminded Mr. M. Nickerson of a reminiscence of his temporary sojourn in the interior of Connecticut some months ago, and again our uplifted glasses were stayed on their way to our lips, and we listened attentively toⒶhistorical collation
the entertaining history of the scriptural panoramist.
[I give the storyⒶhistorical collation in Mr. Nickerson's own language.]Ⓐhistorical collation
There was a fellow travelling around, in that country, (said Mr. Nickerson,) with a moral religious show—a sort of aⒶhistorical collation scriptural panoramaⒺexplanatory note—and he hired a wooden-headed old slabⒶhistorical collation to play the piano for him. After the first night's performance, the showman says:
“My friend, you seem to know pretty much all the tunes there are, and you worry along first-rateⒶemendation. But then didn'tⒶhistorical collation you notice that sometimes last night the piece you happened to be playing was a little roughⒶhistorical collation on the proprietiesⒶhistorical collation so to speak—didn't seem to jibe with the general gait of the picture that was passing at the time, as it were—was a little foreign to the subject, you know—as if you didn't either trump or follow suit, you understand?”
“Well, no,” the fellow said; he hadn't noticed, but it might be; he had played along just as it came handy.
[begin page 364]So they put it up that the simpleⒶhistorical collation old dummy was to keep his eye on the panorama after that, and as soon as a stunningⒶhistorical collation picture was reeled out, he was to fit it to a dot with a piece of music that would help the audience getⒶhistorical collation the idea of the subject, and warm them up like a camp-meeting revivalⒶhistorical collation. That sort of thing would corralⒶhistorical collation their sympathies, the showmanⒶemendation said.
There was a big audience that night—mostly middle-aged and old people who belongedⒶhistorical collation to the church and took a strong interest in Bible matters, and the balance were pretty much young bucks and heifers— they Ⓐhistorical collation always come out strong on panoramas, you know, because it gives them a chance to taste one another's mugsⒶhistorical collation in the dark.
WellⒶemendation,Ⓐhistorical collation the showman began to swell himself up for his lecture, and theⒶhistorical collation old mud-dobber tackled the piano and runⒶhistorical collation his fingers up and downⒶhistorical collation once or twice to see that sheⒶhistorical collation was all right, and the fellowsⒶhistorical collation behind the curtain commenced to grind outⒶhistorical collation the panorama. The showman balanced his weight on his right foot, and propped his hands onⒶhistorical collation his hips, and flung his eyeⒶhistorical collation over his shoulder at the scenery, and says:
“Ladies and gentlemen, the painting now before you illustrates the beautiful and touching parable of the Prodigal Son. Observe the happy expression just breaking over the features of the poor suffering youth—so worn and weary with his long march: note also the ecstasy beaming from the uplifted countenance of the aged father, and the joy that sparkles in the eyes of the excited group of youths and maidens and seems ready to burst in aⒶhistorical collation welcoming chorus from their lips. The lesson, my friends, is as solemn and instructive as the story is tender and beautiful.”
The mud-dobberⒶhistorical collation was all ready, and the second the speech was finished heⒶhistorical collation struck up:
“Oh,Ⓐhistorical collation we'll all get blind drunkWhen Johnny comes marching home!”
Some of the people giggled, and some groaned a little. The showman couldn't say a word. He looked at the piano sharpⒶhistorical collation, but he was all lovely and serene—he didn't know there was anything out of gear.
[begin page 365]The panorama moved on, and the showman drummed up his gritⒶhistorical collation and started in freshⒶhistorical collation:
“Ladies and gentlemen, the fine picture now unfolding itself to your gaze exhibits one of the most notable events in Bible History—our Savior and his disciples upon the Sea of Galilee. How grand, how awe inspiring are the reflections which the subject invokes!Ⓐhistorical collation What sublimity of faith is revealed to us in this lesson from the sacred writings!Ⓐhistorical collation The Savior rebukes the angry waves, and walks securely upon the bosom of the deep!”Ⓐemendation
All aroundⒶhistorical collation the house they were whispering: “Oh,Ⓐhistorical collation how lovely!Ⓐhistorical collation how beautiful!” and the orchestra let himself out again:
“Oh,Ⓐhistorical collation a life on the ocean wave,And a home on the rolling deep!Ⓐhistorical collation”Ⓔexplanatory note
There was a good deal of honest snickering turned onⒶhistorical collation this time, and considerable groaning, and one or two oldⒶhistorical collation deacons got up and went out. The showman grittedⒶhistorical collation his teeth and cursed the piano man to himself, but the fellow sat there like a knot on a log, and seemed to think he was doing first-rate.
After things got quiet, the showman thought he would make one more stagger at it, any howⒶhistorical collation, though his confidence was beginning to get mightyⒶhistorical collation shaky. The supesⒶhistorical collation started the panorama to grindingⒶhistorical collation along again, and he says:
“Ladies and gentlemen, this exquisite painting illustratesⒶhistorical collation the raising of Lazarus from the dead by our Savior. The subject has been handled with rare abilityⒶhistorical collation by the artist, and such touching sweetness and tenderness of expression has he thrown into it, that I have known peculiarly sensitive persons to be even affected to tears by looking at it. Observe the half-confused, half-inquiring look, upon the countenance of the awakeningⒶhistorical collation Lazarus. Observe, also, the attitude and expression of the Savior, who takes him gently by the sleeve of his shroud with one hand, while he points with the other toward the distant city.”
Before anybody could get off an opinion in the case, the innocent old assⒶhistorical collation at the piano struck up:
“Come rise up, William Ri-i-leyⒶhistorical collation,And go along with me!”Ⓔexplanatory note
[begin page 365]
It was rough on the audience, you bet you.Ⓐhistorical collation All the solemn old flats got up in a huffⒶhistorical collation to go, and everybody else laughed till the windows rattled.
The showman went down and grabbed the orchestra, and shook him up, and says:
“That letsⒶemendation Ⓐhistorical collation you out, you know, you chowder-headed old clam!Ⓐhistorical collation Go to the door-keeper and get your money, and cut your stick!Ⓐhistorical collation —vamose the ranch! Ladies and gentlemen, circumstances over which I have no control compel me prematurely to dismiss—”Ⓐtextual note Ⓐhistorical collation
“By George! it was splendid!—come! all hands! let's take a drink!”
It was Phelim O'Flannigan, of San Luis Obispo, who interrupted. I had not seen him before. “WhatⒶhistorical collation was splendid?” I inquired.
“The launch!”
Our party clinked glasses once more, and drank in respectful silence.
Mark Twain.Ⓐhistorical collation
P. S.—You will excuse me from making a model report of the great launch. I was with Mulf Nickerson, who was going to “explain the whole thing to me as clear as glassⒶhistorical collation,” but, you see, they launched the boat with such indecent haste, that we never got a chance to see it. It was a great pity, because Mulph Nickerson understands launches as well as any man.Ⓐhistorical collation
Historical Collation
Texts collated:
Cal “ ‘Mark Twain’ on the Launch of the Steamer ‘Capital,’ ” Californian 3 (18 November 1865): 9.“The Launch of the Steamer Capital” in the following
JF1 Jumping Frog (New York: Webb, 1867), pp. 151–161. Reprints Cal with omissions and minor revisions not demonstrably by Mark Twain.
JF2 Jumping Frog (London: Routledge, 1867), pp. 144–152. Reprints JF1 with few errors.
JF3 Jumping Frog (London: Hotten, 1870), pp. 98–103. Reprints JF2 with few additional errors.
JF4 Jumping Frog (London: Routledge, 1870 and 1872), pp. 132–139. Reprints JF2 with few additional errors.
“The Entertaining History of the Scriptural Panoramist” in the following
MTSk Mark Twain's Sketches (London: Routledge, 1872), pp. 204–207. Reprints JF4 heavily edited by Mark Twain.
MTSkMT Copy of MTSk revised by Mark Twain, who made no changes in this sketch and deleted it in the table of contents.
“A Travelling Show” in the following
Scrs Screamers (London: Hotten, 1871), pp. 146–150. Reprints an unidentified edited version of Cal.
HWa Choice Humorous Works (London: Hotten, 1873), pp. 377–379. Reprints Scrs with few additional errors.
HWaMT Sheets of HWa revised by Mark Twain, who made three changes in this sketch.
HWb Choice Humorous Works (London: Chatto and Windus, 1874), pp. 375–377. Reprints HWa with authorial revisions from HWaMT.
“The Scriptural Panoramist” in the following
HWbMT Copy of HWb revised by Mark Twain, who made five changes in this sketch.
SkNO Sketches, New and Old (Hartford: American Publishing Company, 1875), pp. 296–299. Reprints HWb with authorial revisions from HWbMT.
The first printing in the Californian 3 (18 November 1865): 9 is copy-text. Copies: Bancroft; PH from Yale.
Reprintings and Revisions. This sketch was frequently reprinted in the United States without Mark Twain's authority. For example, in April 1866 Beadle's Dime Book of Fun No. 3 ( BAL 3309) reprinted the “Scriptural Panoramist” section together with an introduction and conclusion clearly not by Mark Twain. “If I were in the east, now,” Clemens wrote his sister on 22 May 1866, “I could stop the publication of a piratical book which has stolen some of my sketches” ( CL1 , letter 104). A few months later, the Californian noted that the sketch was “going the rounds of the Eastern press wrongly credited to the Alta California. It was written more than a year ago, at the time the steamer ‘Capital’ was launched, for The Californian” (“The Story of a Scriptural Panoramist,” Californian 5 [17 November 1866]: 5). On this occasion the Californian itself paraphrased the frame story and reprinted an edited text of the “Scriptural Panoramist” section. Although Mark Twain was lecturing in San Francisco at this time and therefore could have edited the sketch for the Californian, collation discloses no distinctively authorial changes. Both the reprinting in Beadle's Dime Book and in the Californian are here regarded as derivative and their variants are not recorded in the historical collation.
The sketch was reprinted in JF1 from an edited clipping of the Californian, probably taken from the Yale Scrapbook. No trace of such a clipping or of Mark Twain's holograph revisions (if he made any) survives, presumably because the sketch was among those removed from the front part of the scrapbook when whole leaves were scissored out. Only very minimal revisions were imposed on the JF1 text. It is conceivable that Mark Twain restored his characteristic spelling “staid” (instead of “stayed”) at 363.19, or that he removed “Mark Twain” from the title, or changed “story” to “history” at 363.23. He may also have made several substantial deletions in the frame story, reducing the first three paragraphs to a few sentences in JF1. But in the absence of holograph evidence or of more distinctively authorial revisions, all of the changes made for JF1 must be attributed to Charles Henry Webb.
The reprinting of the JF1 text is described in the textual introduction. Routledge reprinted JF1 in 1867 (JF2), and Hotten in turn reprinted JF2 in 1870 (JF3). Routledge also reprinted JF2 in 1870 (JF4a) and, using the unaltered plates of JF4a, reissued the book in 1872 (JF4b). None of these texts was revised by the author, but the compositors made several minor errors, such as “ran” instead of “run” (364.14), “around” instead of “round” (365.10), “super” instead of “supes” (365.21), and “wrapt” instead of “rapt” (363.9). Meanwhile, Hotten had also reprinted the sketch in Scrs in 1871, drawing his text not from JF3 but from an unidentified reprinting of the Californian. Either because of Hotten's editing or because of his source for the text, Scrs contained almost two dozen substantive errors and sophistications, and it wholly omitted the frame story about Muff Nickerson.
When Mark Twain prepared the printer's copy for MTSk in March or April 1872, he had a choice between two reprinted texts of this sketch, one in Scrs and one in JF4a. Collation shows that he chose JF4a, revising it more extensively than any other sketch (save no. 119) reprinted in MTSk. Apparently both the quasi-religious subject matter and the highly vernacular narration of the sketch brought out Mark Twain's conservative feelings in 1872. While he revised away the frame story completely, he also made numerous changes to eliminate both the narrator's skeptical remarks and much of his vulgar language. For instance, he altered a phrase that compared the panorama show to “a camp-meeting revival” (364.5), and he deleted a somewhat racy description of the audience, who, he had said, were “mostly middle-aged and old people who belonged to the church and took a strong interest in Bible matters,” while “the balance were pretty much young bucks and heifers—they always come out strong on panoramas, you know, because it gives them a chance to taste one another's mugs in the dark” (364.7–12). He made some twenty revisions of the narrator's diction, transforming the wild inventiveness of Muff Nickerson's western slang into something both tamer and more comprehensible to an English audience. For example, “wooden-headed old slab” became “simple old creature” (363.26); “rough” became “rasping” (363.32); “simple” became “poor” (364.1); “stunning” became “smart” (364.2); “corral” became “capture” (364.6); “mud-dobber” became “pianist” or “musician” (364.14 and 364.29); “tackled” was omitted (364.14); “grind out” became “unwind” (364.16); “piano sharp” became “pianist” (364.34); “grit” became “pluck” (365.2); “started in fresh” became “began again” (365.2); “snickering” became “laughter” (365.14); “mighty” became “very” (365.21); “ass” became “muggins” (365.34); “huff” became “fury” (366.2); “It was rough on the audience, you bet you” became simply “My!” (366.1); and the final explosion of the proprietor—“That lets you out, you know, you chowder-headed old clam! Go to the door-keeper and get your money, and cut your stick!—vamose the ranch!” and so on (366.6–9)—was reduced to a simple dash, followed by the comment, “But what he said was too vigorous for repetition, and is better left out.”
One year later (1873) Hotten reprinted the Scrs text in HWa. Despite Mark Twain's extensive and careful revision for MTSk, when he revised HWa for Chatto and Windus in the fall of 1873 (HWaMT), he made only two corrections and one minor revision. Both the Scrs text and the reprinting in HWa contained dozens of errors and sophistications. Hotten (or his source), like Mark Twain before him, had reduced the sketch to the core story about the panoramist, and he had retitled it “A Travelling Show.” Both Scrs and HWa changed “gritted” to “grated” (365.16); “piano sharp” to “pianist sharp” (364.34); “belonged” to “belong” (364.8); and “proprieties” to “proprietors” (363.32). Hotten had made some rather bold changes in the diction: “illustrates” became “represents” (365.23); “rare ability” became “marvellous skill” (365.25). Apparently sensing that the HWa text was not wholly reliable, Mark Twain made one marginal comment directed at Hotten's successors, Chatto and Windus. When he came across the error “proprietors” he made the correction and added in the margin: “I hope the new firm has hired a proofreader instead of a shoemaker.” Chagrined at his own harshness, perhaps, he canceled that and wrote simply: “The proof-reading on this book must have been very hurriedly done, or else done by a novice.” He went on to correct only one additional error in this sketch, however, replacing the error “Ri-d-ley” with the correct reading “Ri-i-ley” (365.35), and he slightly modified what became the concluding sentence of the sketch (366.9). Either he could not detect or did not trouble to restore most of the substituted readings imposed by Hotten and his compositors.
When in 1875 Mark Twain prepared the printer's copy for SkNO, he revised the sketch in HWbMT, deleted it from the table of contents for MTSkMT, and entered “The Scriptural Panoramist” as item 75 in the Doheny table of contents (see figure 23H in the textual introduction, volume 1, p. 631). The printers entered the correct HWb page number (375) on this table of contents, and the text in SkNO was set from the revised and corrected HWbMT. Mark Twain supplied the new title, corrected “girt” to “grit” (365.2), changed “grated” to “gritted” (365.16), altered “mugs” to “complexions” (364.11), and made only one additional change, substituting “Whe-ew!” for “It was rough on the audience, you bet” (366.1)—a change parallel to but not duplicating the change he had made in MTSk two years earlier. The SkNO text therefore incorporated most of the unauthoritative readings that first appeared in Scrs, but did not incorporate the relatively conservative revisions Mark Twain had made for MTSk in 1872.
The diagram of transmission is given below.