27–31 January 1874 • Hartford, Conn. (Paraphrase: MTB , 1:502, UCCL 05995)
Clemens vowed that he would not lecture in America that winter. The irrepressible Redpath besieged him as usual, and at the end of January Clemens telegraphed him, as he thought, finally. Following it with a letter of explanation, he added:
“I said to her, ‘There isn’t money enough in America to hire me to leave you for one day.’”1explanatory note
Clemens’s telegram to Redpath, his agent, is not known to survive. In it and the present letter he withdrew the lecture proposal he had made to Redpath from London on 17 December 1873:
I find I don’t like the idea of buckling in on another long siege in New York after this heavy one. So what I want to do, is, to talk in Steinway Hall on a Thursday, & Friday evenings, Saturday afternoon (& possibly ) Saturday night. Then talk possibly Monday & Tuesday in Boston & retire permanently from the platform—for it is my very last. Any time in February will suit me. How does it strike you? ( L5 , 523)
He was still committed to that plan when he reached Boston on 26 January, for the Boston Evening Transcript reported:
He might have gone on lecturing indefinitely in London if he had not been obliged to meet certain platform engagements at home. He will fulfill these latter engagements shortly. They comprise two or three lectures in New York and Boston, after which Mr. Clemens intends to retire from the platform permanently. (“Return of Mark Twain,” 26 Jan 74, 4)
Clemens may have met with Redpath in Boston that day to discuss potential lecture dates. But soon after he arrived in Hartford on 27 January his wife prevailed on him to withdraw. That decision held only until 1 February, when, having won her consent to a briefer commitment, Clemens wrote Redpath with a new proposal (“Brief Mention,” Hartford Courant, 28 Jan 74, 2).
Paraphrase, MTB , 1:502.
L6 , 21.