In a letter to James Redpath dated 17 March 1876, Clemens requested
Redpath to arrange a short lecture tour in New York writing in part:

"I want to deliver 'Roughing It' in New York within the next
3 weeks. I have to deliver it in New Haven next Wednesday, & so may
well talk it in N.Y. while it is fresh in my mind. I want Chickering
Hall--& will wait till I can get it if you think it the best place--as
doubtless it is. I want to talk in the afternoon & also that same
night--& fold my tent & skip home. (The money is for a friend of mine
who is in need, but I don't wish to mention that. Nothing else would
get me into the field though.)"

In a letter to Mary Fairbanks dated 24 March 1876, Clemens writes:

"I'm to lecture 3 times in N.Y. for a benevolent object next
week, & then I won't do another charitable or kindly thing this year."

I have found reports of these N.Y. apperances in the _Brooklyn Eagle_
of March 31, 1876 reporting on an Academy of Music appearance.
The _Boston Globe_ of the same date reported on a New York Press
Club appearance. Neither papers mention the charity or the friend in
need. Does anyone know who or what nameless charity was to benefit
from this March 1876 lecture endeavor?

Barb