Hall was unsuccessful in placing the manuscript, but Iriving S. Underhill, wishing to promote Niagara Falls as a tourist attraction, asked Twain for a contribution for The Niagara Book. Twain revised “Adam’s Diary,” making Niagara Falls Park the scene for the work, instead of the Garden of Eden. The text printed here is from The Niagara Book. A Complete Souvenir of Niagara Falls Containing Sketches . . . by W. D. Howells, Mark Twain . . . and Others (Buffalo: Underhill & Nichols, 1893).

“To the Person Sitting in Darkness” was published in the North American Review, February, 1901, and is the source for this text. “Corn-Pone Opinions” was written in 1901 but was first published in Europe and Elsewhere, Albert Bigelow Paine, ed. (New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1923), the source of the present text. A chapter from Twain’s ongoing “Autobiography,” “Early Days” was published in the North American Review, March, 1907, and is the source for this text.

The texts for “Plymouth Rock and the Pilgrims,” “Education and Citizenship,” and “The Alphabet and Simplified Spelling” are from the first American edition of Mark Twain’s Speeches (New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1910). “Advice to Youth” and “Farewell Banquet for Bayard Taylor” are from Mark Twain Speaking, Paul Fatout, ed. (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1976).

The letter to Frank Nichols (3/1885) was published in the Boston Daily Advertiser on April 2, 1885. The letter to Susan Crane (3/19/1893) is reprinted with permission from the Hartford House, Hartford, Connecticut. The remaining letters are from the two-volume Mark Twain’s Letters, arranged with comment by Albert Bigelow Paine (New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1917).

Chronology

1835 Samuel L. Clemens is born in Florida, Missouri.

1839 The Clemens family moves to Hannibal, Missouri, on the Mississippi River.

1847 His father, John Marshall Clemens, dies March 24.

1849-1851 Apprentices with Joseph Ament, printer; sets type for the Hannibal Courier.

1853 Leaves Hannibal for St. Louis; spends August in New York City; visits Philadelphia.

1857 Meets Horace Bixby, the riverboat pilot, who agrees to take him as an apprentice.

1858-1859 Apprentices as a “cub” pilot; receives his license April 9, 1859.

1861 In June, joins the Marion Rangers, a group of volunteers sympathetic to the Confederate cause. The unit disbands after two weeks.

In July, travels with his brother Orion to the Nevada Territory.

1862 Joins staff of the Virginia City, Nevada, Territorial Enterprise.

1863 In three “Letters from Carson,” he first uses the pen name “Mark Twain.”

1864 Moves to San Francisco and works as a reporter for the Morning Call. Publishes sketches in the Golden Era and the Californian.

1865 “Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog” is published in the New York Saturday Press and is widely reprinted throughout the country.

1867 In June, sails on the Quaker City for Europe and the Holy Land as a correspondent for the Alta California and the New York Tribune.

Contracts with the American Publishing Company to make letters from voyage into a book.

Meets Olivia Langdon.

1869 Becomes engaged to Olivia Langdon.

The Innocents Abroad is published.

1870 Marries February 2; moves to Buffalo, New York.

Son Langdon is born; dies 18 months later.

1872 Roughing It is published.

Daughter Olivia Susan (Susy) is born.

1873 The Gilded Age (coauthored with Charles Dudley Warner) is published.

1874 Daughter Clara is born.

The Clemenses move into their still uncompleted house in Hartford, Connecticut, in the fall.

In November, publishes “A True Story” in the Atlantic Monthly, Twain’s first attempt to tell a serious story in African-American dialect.

Begins writing articles about his years as a Mississippi riverboat apprentice.

1875 In January, the first installment of “Old Times on the Mississippi” appears in the Atlantic Monthly.

In September, Mark Twain’s Sketches New and Old is published.

1876 In the summer begins writing “Huck Finn’s Autobiography” at Quarry Farm, overlooking Elmira, New York.

Publishes The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

1877 In December, delivers the “Whittier Birthday Speech” in Boston. Many, including Clemens’s friend William Dean Howells, are shocked by the burlesque that features tramps impersonating Longfellow, Holmes, and Emerson.

1878 In April, the Clemens family travels to Germany and makes excursions throughout Switzerland and Italy. They return home September, 1879.

1880 In March, A Tramp Abroad is published.

Daughter Jane Lampton (Jean) is born.

1881 In December, The Prince and the Pauper is published.

1882 In preparation of expanding the “Old Times on the Mississippi” articles into a book, travels to St. Louis and takes a riverboat down to New Orleans and then back north, stopping off at his hometown, Hannibal.

1883 In May, Life on the Mississippi is published.

1884 In May, he and Charles L. Webster start their own publishing company.

In July, begins writing “Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer Among the Indians.”

In November, begins a four-month lecture tour with George Washington Cable.

In December, the English edition of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is published.

1885 His own publishing house, Charles L. Webster & Company, issues the first American edition of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, on February 18.

“The Private History of a Campaign That Failed,” is published in the December issue of Century.

Begins investing in the Paige typesetting machine.

1889 A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court is published by Charles L. Webster & Company.

Optimistic about the prospects for the Paige typesetter and that he will be able to retire from writing and live off the profits.

1890 His mother, Jane Lampton Clemens, dies.

1891 With the publishing house deeply in debt, he stops his payments for the support of the Paige typesetting project.

Unable to afford the maintenance of their Hartford house, the family moves to Europe.

1893 “Extracts from Adam’s Diary” is published in Niagara Book.

1894 Clemens declares voluntary bankruptcy.

The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson and the Comedy of Those Extraordinary Twins is published by the American Publishing Company.

1895 Begins his round-the-world lecture tour in order to pay creditors.

1896 His daughter Susy dies.

1898 Remaining debts paid in full.

1901 “To the Person Sitting in Darkness” is published in the North American Review and as a pamphlet by the Anti-Imperialist League.

The family moves to Riverdale-on-the-Hudson in New York.

Writes “Corn-Pone Opinions”; published posthumously. 1902 Visits Hannibal and St. Louis for the last time.

Receives an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

1903 Settles in Italy for Olivia’s health.

1904 Olivia Clemens dies June 5.

1905 Writes “Eve’s Diary,” published in Harper’s Magazine.

A seventieth birthday party in his honor is given at Delmonico’s; 172 people attend.

1906 What Is Man? is published anonymously by DeVinne Press.

Begins to publish “Chapters from My Autobiography” in the North American Review.

1907 Receives an honorary Litt.D.