15 December? 1877 • Hartford, Conn. (Chicago Tribune, 6 January 1878, UCCL 13079)
I am tied to the treadmill, hand &Ⓐemendation foot, hard at work, on what seems an interminable book, so I must not think of lecturing,1explanatory note—though I assure you that I would be considerably gladder to have talked for the Veterans than for any other institution in the country, if I were still on the lecturing war path.2explanatory note
The Chicago Tribune of 6 January 1878 published this letter with the following introduction:
Mark Twain Won’t Lecture
The Union Veteran Club, through its Lecture Committee, recently wrote to Mark Twain to induce him to come to Chicago and give a lecture before the Association for the benefit of its relief fund. The following is his reply.
The Chicago Union Veteran Club was formally constituted on 13 December 1876, and by the spring of 1878 its membership had grown to over three hundred and fifty men. On 17 October 1877 the club appointed a committee to arrange for lectures at its meetings (Chicago Tribune: “Chicago,” 14 Dec 1876, 2; “Ward Meetings,” 18 Oct 1877, 8; “Gen. Shields,” 12 May 1878, 5).
“Mark Twain Won’t Lecture,” Chicago Tribune, 6 January 1878, 8.
“Mark Twain Won’t Come,” Chicago Inter-Ocean, 7 January 1878, 3.