Mark Twain's Lecture from Roughing it

IN THE FALL of I87I Mark Twain began an extensive lecture tour under the management of James Redpath, proprietor of the Boston Lyceum Bureau. The lecture he had prepared bore the title of Some Pleasant Characters I Have Met. was a humorous commenitary on acquaintances, ranging from kings to lunatics and idiots.' But by October 27 he had dropped the nasty, nauseous Reminiscences in favor of a new lecture called Ward Humorist which he had written the previous week end.2 This lecture, hastily written, lasted about five weeks. Then on December 8 he asked Redpath to all hands that from this time I shall talk nothing but selections from my forthcoming book It. Tried it last night. Suits me tip-top.3 The Roughing It lecture proved a happy choice. was almost universally well received, and he finished the tour without further change. In the interval, however, before Redpath could notify local sponsoring groups of the change in billing, Mark Twain encountered difficulty in persuading local chairmen to agree to the unannounced shift in program. At Lansing, Michigan, for example, where he lectured December I4,4 the chairman consented reluctantly. Since the Artemus Ward lecture had been widely publicized, he feared the change in plan would be a bit risky. That it was in fact risky was demonstrated two nights later at Kalamazoo, where Mark Twain provoked the following attack from a reporter on the Daily Telegraph :5

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