If I recall correctly, his first "date" with Livy was attendance at a
Dickens lecture.  I'm sure she is the "white" woman to whom he refers, and
I also agree that that designation of her is intended as a joke.

On Thu, Dec 1, 2011 at 10:17 AM, westbook <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I think the "white woman" thing was just Twain's way of making a joke.
> Tim Champlin
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ben Wise" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Wednesday, November 30, 2011 7:22 PM
> Subject: Re: MT & Dickens (& Christmas)
>
>
> >I figure "white" just goes along with "highly respectable" in the
> >convention=
> > al rhetorical litany of attributes accorded a woman one is proud to have
> > in o=
> > ne's company, at that declarative time  But...who WAS that white woman?
> >
> > Ben
> >
> >
> >
> > On Nov 30, 2011, at 6:02 PM, Harold Bush <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >
> >> folks, deep into the Christmas tales of Dickens this week and next;
> >> though=
> > t
> >> I'd treat myself to another look and see how the students like (or
> >> dislike=
> > )
> >> them.
> >> Here's just a few rambling questions, in case any of you are in a
> holiday
> >> mood and feel like chatting:
> >>=20
> >> I wonder how MT thought of Dickens as a novelist?  I don't have a copy
> of
> >> Alan's book handy (sure wish the new edition of MT'sL would appear, are
> >> yo=
> > u
> >> listening Prof. Gribben?).
> >>=20
> >> I wonder what he might have thought of those old Christmas tales -- and
> >> also, when or if MT ever really wrote much about Christmas, or used it
> >> muc=
> > h
> >> as a setting?
> >>=20
> >> I also was interested in this little review MT wrote of his visit to
> hear
> >> CD read, in NYC, 1868:
> >>=20
> >> "He read David Copperfield. He is a bad reader, in one sense -- because
> >> he=
> >
> >> does not enunciate his words sharply and distinctly -- he does not cut
> >> the=
> >
> >> syllables cleanly, and therefore many and many of them fell dead before
> >> they reached our part of the house. [I say "our" because I am proud to
> >> observe that there was a beautiful young lady with me -- a highly
> >> respectable young white woman.]"
> >>=20
> >> (from a nice website:  charlesdickenspage.com/twain_on_dickens.html;
>  is
> >> this published in a recent edition somewhere?  not really sure about
> that
> >> .=
> >
> >> . . .)
> >>=20
> >> For most of the 60s, evidently, CD read those Christmas tales in public
> >> readings.  But the thing that really caught my eye:  why did he call her
> >> a=
> >
> >> "white" woman?  I don't really get the reason for emphasizing that -- as
> >> i=
> > f
> >> he would be with an African American?  or am I just missing something
> >> with=
> >
> >> that?
> >>=20
> >> Anyway;  if anyone has something to say about MT and Christmas, or CD,
> >> I'm=
> >
> >> interested!
> >>=20
> >>=20
> >> thanks, --Hal B.
> >>=20
> >>=20
> >>=20
> >>=20
> >> --=20
> >> Harold K. Bush, Ph.D
> >> Professor of English
> >> Saint Louis University
> >> St. Louis, MO  63108
> >> 314-977-3616 (w); 314-771-6795 (h)
> >> <www.slu.edu/x23809.xml>
>



-- 
John H. Davis, Ph.D.
Professor of English
Department of Language and Literature
Chowan University
Murfreesboro, North Carolina 27855