Why do you say that?  I grew up in Malden, which is just south of Melrose
and maybe five miles or so north of Boston.  Lowell is maybe 25 miles north
of Boston.  It would have been relatively easy for Twain to have spent the
night after the Melrose gig to take a train into Boston for a good hotel,
and have penned and posted the letter from there.

The point is that none of these places were more than an hour or so away
from each other by the B&M railroad, which I'm pretty sure existed in those
days and catered to people who worked in Boston but commuted from cities and
towns the trains had by then begun to turn into suburbs.  When I was young,
the B&M ran from North Station in Boston north through Malden and Melrose
and on to Lowell, among other destinations.  I think that was true in the
1880s.  The train run from Melrose to Boston might have taken a half hour or
so, and from Boston to Lowell maybe twice that.

Carl

-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Twain Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Scott Holmes
Sent: Wednesday, April 8, 2015 1:56 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Twain, November 11, 1884 A letter to Pond

On this date Twain and Cable were in Lowell, MA for a show at Huntington
Hall.  The day before they were in Melrose, MA, but there is a letter from
Twain to Pond dated November 11, 1884 from Boston, MA.  Given their
geographic locations, it doesn't make much sense to me for Sam Clemens to be
in Boston on that date to post a letter.  This is listed in MTP