Chapters… Mark Twain in Washington, D.C.: Adventures of a Capital Correspondent

1. Such is life, and such is Washington!

2. Mark Twain Comes to Washington

3. The Scupper Nong Letter

4. The Washington Syndicate

5. City Reporter

6. A Literary Proposition

7. Mark Twain’s Boardinghouses

8. Twain Lectures Washington

9. Capital Misadventures

10. The Gay & Busy Season

11. The Folklore of General Washington’s Body Servant

12. Exit Stage West

13. George Alfred Townsend: A Forgotten Man of Letters

14. The Old Curiosity Shop

15. The Prince of Lobbyists

Twain lived next-door to a bakery while in Washington…

1867 Boyd’s City Directory… http://archive.org/stream/boydsdirectoryof1867wash#page/408/mode/2up/search/Havener

On page 409:

Metropolitan Pat. Steam Cracker Bakery, Thomas Havener, Benjamin Charlton, and Thomas H. Havener, props, 347 C north

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Special thanks to Vic Fischer at the Mark Twain Project for his continued detective work and help!

LINK: “Facts Concerning My Resignation” [NY Tribune, 27 Dec. 1867, p. 2]

This article was dated December 2, 1867.

New-York tribune. (New York [N.Y.]), 27 Dec. 1867. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1867-12-27/ed-1/seq-2/>

LINK: “A New Cabinet Regulator” By Mark Twain [Evening Star, 16 December 1867, p. 2]

“A New Cabinet Regulator”

Evening Star. (Washington, D.C.), 16 Dec. 1867. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1867-12-16/ed-1/seq-2/>

“Concerning Gideon’s Band”

Daily Alta California, 26 March 1868, p. 1

http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=DAC18680326.2.17#

“Society in Washington.” [National Intelligencer, Sat., 22 Feb, 1868, p. 2]

Speaker Colfax’s spacious parlors were again thronged last evening, on the occasion of his weekly reception, with a most brilliant assemblage, composed, as usual, of official dignitaries of every branch of the Government, members of the Corps Diplomatique, and an unusually large number of distinguished strangers. Mr. Colfax received his many visitors in a most pleasing manner, introducing them to his accomplished mother and sister with that courtesy and urbanity which made all feel at ease. These agreeable reunions will be continued during the month of March.

Mark Twain attended one of these weekly receptions in late February 1868, as reported by Emily Edson Briggs.

From the Bible to Mark Twain, Notes On: “Well done, [thou] good and faithful servant”

Mathew 25: 21 [King James Version]

His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

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The Chicago Republican, May 19, 1868

[Courtesy of LOC & Twainquotes.com]

Once in Washington, during the winter, Riley a fellow-correspondent, who stayed in the same house with me, rushed into my room — it was past midnight — and said, “Great God, what can the matter be! What makes that awful smell?”

I said, “Calm yourself, Mr. Riley. There is no occasion for alarm. You smell about as usual.”

But he said there was no joke about this matter — the house was full of smoke — he had heard dreadful screams — he recognized the odor of burning human flesh. We soon found out that he was right. A poor old negro woman, a servant in the next house, had fallen on the stove and burned herself so badly that she soon died. It was a sad case, and at breakfast all spoke gloomily of the disaster, and felt low-spirited. The landlady even cried, and that depressed us still more. She said:

“Oh, to think of such a fate! She was so good, and so kind and so faithful. She had worked hard and honestly in that family for twenty-eight long years, and now she is roasted to death — yes, roasted to crisp, like 80 much beef.”

In a grave voice and without even the shadow of a smile, Riley said:

“Well done, good and faithful servant !”

It sounded like a benediction, and the landlady never perceived the joke, but I never came so near choking in my life.

– End –

THE GALAXY, November 1870

MEMORANDA.

BY MARK TWAIN.

RILEY — NEWSPAPER CORRESPONDENT

[Courtesy Twainquotes.com & Google Books]

Riley has a ready wit, a quickness and aptness at selecting and applying quotations, and a countenance that is as solemn and as blank as the back side of a tombstone when he is delivering a particularly exasperating joke. One night a negro woman was burned to death in a house next door to us, and Riley said that our landlady would be oppressively emotional at breakfast, because she generally made use of such opportunities as offered, being of a morbidly sentimental turn, and so we would find it best to let her talk along and say nothing back — it was the only way to keep her tears out of the gravy. Riley said there never was a funeral in the neighborhood but that the gravy was watery for a week.

And sure enough, at breakfast the landlady was down in the very sloughs of woe — entirely broken-hearted. Every thing she looked at reminded her of that poor old negro woman, and so the buckwheat cakes made her sob, the coffee forced a groan, and when the beefsteak came on she fetched a wail that made our hair rise. Then she got to talking about deceased, and kept up a steady drizzle till both of us were soaked through and through. Presently she took a fresh breath and said, with a world of sobs:

“Ah, to think of it, only to think of it! — the poor old faithful creature. For she was so faithful. Would you believe it, she had been a servant in that self-same house and that self-same family for twenty-seven years come Christmas, and never a cross word and never a lick! And oh to think she should meet such a death at last! — a-sitting over the red-hot stove at three o’clock in the morning and went to sleep and fell on it and was actually roasted! not just frizzled up a bit, but literally roasted to a crisp! Poor faithful creature, how she was cooked! I am but a poor woman, but even if I have to scrimp to do it, I will put up a tombstone over that lone sufferer’s grave — and Mr. Riley, if you would have the goodness to think up a little epitaph to put on it which would sort of describe the awful way in which she met her –”

“Put it ‘Well done, good and faithful servant!’ ” said Riley, and never smiled.

[I have either printed that anecdote once before or told it in company so many thousand times as to carry that seeming to my mind, but it is of no consequence — it is worth printing half a dozen times.]

– End –

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This story was included in Mark Twain’s Sketches, New & Old (1875)

Link “Yankee in the Orient,” Twain as “Special Correspondent” to New York Tribune [25 October 1867, p. 2]

New-York tribune. (New York [N.Y.]), 25 Oct. 1867. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1867-10-25/ed-1/seq-2/>

Link to review of “Mark Twain as a Lecturer” [New York Tribune, 11 May, 1867, p. 2]

New-York tribune. (New York [N.Y.]), 11 May 1867. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1867-05-11/ed-1/seq-2/>

Links to two of Mark Twain’s Special Correspondence to New York Tribune [ 2 Nov; 9 Nov, 1867] on eve of move to Washington City

“The American Colony in Palestine”

New-York tribune. (New York [N.Y.]), 02 Nov. 1867. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1867-11-02/ed-1/seq-2/>

“The Holy Land: First Day in Palestine.”

New-York tribune. (New York [N.Y.]), 09 Nov. 1867. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1867-11-09/ed-1/seq-1/>

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More information:

SLC to John Russell Young, 1 Dec 1867

http://bit.ly/1956CEB

Evidence that supports “Scupper Nong Letter” [NY Times, 29 Nov 1867] is newly discovered Washington correspondence of Mark Twain.

1. The Evening Telegraph (Philadelphia) of November 30, 1867 republished the letter and added the byline of “MARK TWAIN.” In subsequent days no correction ran saying that the article was not, in fact, written by Twain. I mentioned in yesterday’s post that the Philadelphia paper most likely reprinted Twain’s item because of its mentions of John Forney and his paper.  [The Chronicle later ran ads for “THE JUMPING FROG. BY MARK TWAIN” while Twain was in the city as a capital correspondent.]

2a. As well all know, Mark Twain arrived in Washington in late November 1867 from New York and upon his arrival boarded at the Willard. These are the same circumstances “Scupper Nong” shares in his letter. (Noted Twain scholar and publisher of the invaluable twainquotes.com Barbara Schmidt mentioned this similarity in a recent email.)

2b. The opening volley of the one and only letter from Scupper Nong begins with, “I have not observed the announcement by any of the ‘Specials’ of my arrival in this political metropolis (which to my mind is rather a drink-opolis) as your occasional correspondent.”

The New York Times announced Twain’s landing in Washington on its front page of 26 November 1867. “ARRIVALS. – Among the arrivals in the city are Hon. Columbus Delano, who contests the seat of Mr. Morgan, of Ohio, and Mark Twain, the humorist.”

It appears no Washington City paper announced Twain’s arrival, as did the New York Times. I have found no such item in the Evening Star, National Intelligencer, National Republican or Morning Chronicle. Either I have overlooked an announcement of Twain’s arrivals in one of these papers or it was printed elsewhere. I have not found any Washington daily paper that announced Twain’s arrival which substantiates Scupper Nong’s claim aka Mark Twain.

Twain is no Frederick Douglass when it comes to certain morals and etiquette. My gut instinct, I am today a journalist in Washington City and trust my gut which is usually 95% right, tells me that Twain felt slighted by this. Yet to come out with an article under his own byline saying, to the effect of, folks didn’t notice I am here in your city and you damn should was not a good idea back then and is still not how to best influence folks today in Washington.

3. General Grant’s demeanor in not answering the Scupper Nong and the other reporter’s inquiries are nearly identical to Twain’s sketch, filed from Washington, D.C., for the New York Tribune in December 1868 titled “Concerning Gen. Grant’s intentions“. This 1868 article is beyond a doubt known in Twain circles. Renowned scholar Louis J. Budd said the piece “spoofed that budding candidate’s taciturnity, he felt his way with caution.”

4. Twain doesn’t mention “Scupper Nong” or this article in any of his known correspondence. What gives? William Swinton…?

Upon arriving in Washington, Twain intended to begin a “syndicate” with Swinton. [Twain told this story on multiple occasions over the years.] According to my own research into Swinton and the good folks at the Mark Twain Papers, “William Swinton (1833–92), described by the New York Citizen as “tall, red-whiskered, sedate,” was a special correspondent for the New York Times during the war and became notorious for his overly revealing and critical reports on Union troop movements.” Swinton’s brother, John Swinton, was an editorial writer for the New York Times when the Scupper Nong letter appears. William Swinton and Twain lived in a boarding house together in Washington, the exact dates are not known.

5. What is “Scupper Nong“? Apparently, it is a grape unique to the South. Twain was unique to everywhere but he was a native of the border South. Interesting selection for a nom de plume.

6. I have more but I won’t share right now.

My book is focusing on Twain in local Washington, D.C. My position is simple: Washington, D.C. was informative to Twain and his experiences in Washington kept him up late at night thinking about how elusive the vapor of fame could be.

ED Note: I am a local journalist in Washington. I have an undergrad degree. I am no professor or “trained historian.” I am a public historian. You can catch me on the Metro, at MLK Library or LOC. I don’t have a particular interest in arguing this way or that way about something esoteric. This book is for the city, my journalist buddies, the young researchers coming up out here, David C. Mearns, my brother and everyone in between.

New scholarship and debate on Twain’s Washington days should, of course, be encouraged from all sources and directions.