After his 13 December lecture in New Britain, Connecticut, Clemens left by train for Springfield, Massachusetts, about twenty-five miles north, where he spent the night. Although he might have written to Redpath before departing or en route, it is more probable that he did so after his arrival in Springfield.

Pursuant to Clemens’s letter of 10 May 1869, Redpath had distributed a circular to lyceums announcing that “‘Mark Twain’s’ only lecture for the season of 1869–70 will be entitled ‘The Curiosities of California’” (see Boston Lyceum Bureau Advertising Circularclick to open link). Clemens had remained committed to such a lecture at least into early summer, then abandoned it by 27 September, five weeks before the beginning of his tour (see 5 July 69 to Fairbanksclick to open link and 27 September 69 to Blissclick to open link). Redpath must have adjusted his publicity promptly, perhaps with an amended circular, for newspaper advertisements in host cities generally reported the new topic—“Our Fellow Savages of the Sandwich Islands.” Nevertheless, Clemens sometimes had to explain the substitution at the last moment: his 10 December audience in Mount Vernon, New York, for example, had expected to hear him talk about California (“On Friday evening . . . ,” Mount Vernon Chronicle, 18 Dec 69, 2). Presumably in the missing portion of the present letter he requested measures to eliminate remaining confusion—possibly through the placement of “special advertisements” such as Redpath had proposed on 24 April (see 10 May 69 to Redpath, n. 1click to open link). Advertisements in the weekly Jamestown, New York, Journal indicate that late corrections were indeed made. On 24 December, the paper announced the title of Mark Twain’s Jamestown lecture, scheduled for 21 January 1870, as “Curiosities of California,” but the following week corrected it to “Our Fellow Savages of the Sandwich Islands” (“Y.M.C.A. Lecture Course for 1869 and 1870,” 8).