As the "someone" of your reference, I really appreciate the marvelously detailed and subtly researched response! It's also nice to hear from someone who was a contemporary resident of Amherst in the 19th century, when "a lot of us" gazed into the bottom of wine glasses...and evidently still do. Ben >Someone asked about Twain and Amherst and curiosity got the best of me & = >I looked into it. Here are two tidbits-- > >1. Twain visited Amherst on Feb. 27, 1872 and lectured. He drew a crowd = >of 800. The next day the local paper printed a short notice that = >concluded "As a lecturer we are of the opinion that he is a first class = >failure." It is highly unlikely that ED attended this lecture, but from = >her letters it's clear she read the local papers, so she was surely = >aware of his appearance. While not the shut-in she is often portrayed to = >have been, she seems to have avoided crowds, especially where vuvuzelas = >were being blown. Actually, those Amherst crowds of the 19th century = >don't come across as a lively bunch, and a lot of us might have chosen a = >quiet evening at home baking cakes or gazing into the bottom of wine = >glasses to double-check the color of our eyes. > >2. On Dec 9, 1884 Mabel Loomis Todd recorded in her diary that "In the = >evening Mr Dickinson came in like a brilliant north west breeze & read = >us a sparkling little story in the current Century." The only "sparkling = >story" in the Dec 1884 issue of Century Magazine was the first of three = >installments of Huckleberry Finn before publication of the book. Todd, = >best-known for editing ED's poems, carried on an affair with ED's = >brother Austin Dickinson who lived next door to ED. She was a frequent = >visitor to Austin Dickinson's household and worshipped the ground he = >walked on. The consensus of opinion is that ED was aware of the affair = >but never met Todd in person, so ED was not likely present when her = >brother read part of HF. But this passage in Todd's diary is significant = >because it places this magazine in close proximity and makes it very = >likely that ED at least read those three issues even if she never read = >the book itself. ED had a sly sense of humor that could not have gone = >unnoticed by her adulterous brother next door, and he may have pointed = >out the HF pieces to her, or discussed them with her. > >There is actually a third connection via Rev Wadsworth. First, go find a = >portrait of Wadsworth and contemplate it for a moment and let the = >dourness sink in; then read Twain's hilarious dig at Wadsworth in = >"Reflections on the Sabbath" and imagine this guy staring down his = >congregation whenever he said something inadvertently funny. It really = >makes you wonder what the heck Twain was thinking when he used Wadsworth = >as a reference later on. It also makes clear where Twain got the idea = >for his pair of subversive sketches on the Good and Bad Little Boys. =20 > =20 >Kevin >@ >Mac Donnell Rare Books >9307 Glenlake Drive >Austin TX 78730 >512-345-4139 >Member: ABAA, ILAB >************************* >You may browse our books at=20 >www.macdonnellrarebooks.com