The “City of Hartford” speech was delivered at a reception for the Worcester Continentals, a quasi-military group formed in Worcester, Massachusetts, to commemorate the Centennial of the American Revolution, on October 19, 1882. This Hartford Courant reporter’s transcript of an extempore speech notes the audience reaction. The wooden covered bridge from Hartford to East Hartford he refers to, built in 1818, was nearly a thousand feet long. The First Company Governor’s Foot Guard, a ceremonial Connecticut unit that guards the governor, was formed in 1771. Continue reading Speech on the City of Hartford, 1882
Tag Archives: Hartford Setting
from A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
Clemens’s fascination with English history developed with his visits to the country and his research for The Prince and the Pauper (1881), a tale of a royal and a commoner changing places so each could find out what he had been envying. He was fascinated by the Elizabethan period and its wholesome frankness about sex and bodily functions, which he celebrated in a short obscene work called 1601: Conversation as it Was by the Social Fireside, in the Time of the Tudors. The book was concealed to all but select male friends, but is now freely readable on the Internet. Continue reading from A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
Glimpse of Hartford, 1868
When Samuel Clemens first visited Hartford in 1868 to see about the publication of his first full-length work, The Innocents Abroad: The New Pilgrims’ Progress, he was still a “special correspondent” for the San Francisco paper, the Alta California. These three letters describe his first impressions of the city, its sights, its industries, and its people. Continue reading Glimpse of Hartford, 1868
The Trouble of One House
The chapters selected for this anthology come late in the book. Elizabeth has just died and family members arrive that evening to visit. These two chapters explore the tensions in the family and the internal conflicts experienced by Elizabeth’s husband, Doctor Thomas Rowan. Readers may find it helpful to refer to the cast of characters below for an orientation to the selected chapters. Continue reading The Trouble of One House