1. The New Yorker piece did not seem funny to me. Silly would be putting it 
kindly. Their Shouts & Murmurs column can often be quite humorous, 
satirical, sly, even slapstick. This was none of that.

2. Twain take Livy and Clara to the places where he sowed his wild oats?  He 
didn't take any of his family to Nevada either. He took his family to Keokuk 
by steamboat, and maybe Hannibal too (??), but that's as close as he came to 
showing them his old stomping grounds. Remember that his old CA and NV 
friends came close to torpedoing his courtship of Livy by hinting at his, 
uh, youthful behaviors and habits. I think it's pretty to think of Twain as 
an observer during his western years, but naive not to think of him as a 
participant. That said, I don't think he did anything that many other young 
unmarried men didn't do at that time in those places. The white suit didn't 
come until much later.

Kevin
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----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Arianne" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, September 30, 2013 2:40 PM
Subject: Why wasn't SF included in world tour?


>A friend asked me why Mark Twain didn't return to California after 1868.  I
> have no idea!  I've always been surprised he didn't include California 
> when
> he came west and eventually got to Hawaii on his way further.  I'd have
> thought he'd want to show things off to his wife and daughter.  I
> realize the tour organizer might simply have been in charge of the
> bookings.  Does anyone know?
>
> -- 
> Arianne Laidlaw
> Sacramento
>
>
>
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