1–3 December 1863
On 6 December 1863 the San Francisco Golden Era published this brief excerpt from what must have been Mark Twain's much longer account in the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, which is not extant. In their preface the editors of the Golden Era commented that “ ‘Mark Twain’ . . . lately attended a presentation affair at Virginia City, and distinguished himself—in his own words.” Very probably this “affair” was the ball and supper given on November 30 at Sutliffe's Hall by the Virginia City Eagle Engine Company No. 3, which five hundred people attended. Such balls were often the occasion for presenting garlands, wreaths, and other tokens, and the presumption must be that Mark Twain was asked to speak. He already had a reputation as an after-dinner speaker, and in this case we know that he returned to Virginia City that weekend from Carson City, where he had been reporting the first Constitutional Convention.1 Since the Virginia City Evening Bulletin published its account of the ball on December 1, Mark Twain's account must have appeared in the Enterprise on the same day or shortly thereafter.
Afterwards Ⓐemendation, Mr. Mark Twain being enthusiastically called upon, arose, and without previous preparation, burst forth in a tide of eloquence so grand, so luminous, so beautiful and so resplendent with the gorgeous fires of genius, that the audience were spell-bound by the magic of his words, and gazed in silent wonder in each other's faces as men who felt that they were listening to one gifted with inspiration [Applause.] The proceedings did not end here, but at this point we deemed it best to stop reporting and go to dissipating, as the dread solitude of our position as a sober, rational Christian, in the midst of the drivelingⒶemendation and besotted multitude around us, had begun to shroud our spirits with a solemn sadness tinged with fear. At ten o'clock the curtain fell.Ⓐemendation
The first printing in the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, probably sometime between 1 and 3 December 1863, is not extant. The sketch survives in the only known contemporary reprinting of the Enterprise, the San Francisco Golden Era 11 (6 December 1863): 8, which is copy-text. Copy: PH from Bancroft. It is clear that the Era reprinted only an excerpt from a longer sketch in the Enterprise. There are no textual notes.