I would suggest that you dig deeper into the question of travel on the Sabbath. There are many printed sources about the Quaker City excursion, all well-known, but besides those, nine of the pilgrims sent letters to hometown newspapers or other papers reporting on the excursion. At least seven diaries/journals/notebooks survive that were kept by pilgrims (including Twain's) that record the daily activities and thoughts of various pilgrims. Some of them have been published. I own the originals of two of those diaries and have read three of the others. Although there was a wide divergence of opinion about travel on the Sabbath, I can assure you that some of the pilgrims objected strongly to such travel. They even held some votes. One devout Presbyterian, Robert Bell, repeatedly groused about those who did not strictly observe the Sabbath. He worried that God might punish them at any time, and his anxiety reached a fever pitch every time the Quaker City got tossed around in rough seas or ran into bad weather. He describes SLC as "openly intemperate & profane." I can only hope my friends think the same of me. Kevin @ Mac Donnell Rare Books 9307 Glenlake Drive Austin TX 78730 512-345-4139 Member: ABAA, ILAB, BSA You can browse our books at: www.macdonnellrarebooks.com ------ Original Message ------ From: "Scott Holmes" <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Sent: 4/4/2022 2:28:50 AM Subject: Matters of Conscience >While searching for information on Ain Fijeh aka Figia, or The Fountain of Balaam's Ass, I was reading Robert Regan's article /The Reprobate Elect in The Innocents Abroad /and found the notion that the Pilgrims did not actually have an aversion to traveling on the sabbath. Looking at the schedule of The Long Trip, it seems they had no problem traveling on the subsequent Sundays - 9/22 and 9/29. They just wanted to get to Damascus. > >On further reading this article I find that Sam, Dan and the Doctor did not visit the zoo in Marseilles and that the "gray-bodied, dark-winged, bald-headed, and preposterously uncomely bird" came from a "fabulous bestiary." > >Sabbaths have a long history with Mark Twain, particularly his relationship with GW Cable. I had long held the Twain's writing on long ride to Figia on a par with Huck's moral dilemma. Both are fictions yet both represent truths. But then that preposterous bird was just a device to prepare the reader for future descriptions of the Pilgrims. So it goes .... >