The (San Francisco) Daily Alta Californian

1868: April 15

"MARK TWAIN'S" LECTURE.--Platt's Hall was crowded to excess to hear the Holy Land Excursionist personally narrate his experience on that memorable voyage. The lecture was not so well prepared at the first one he delivered on the Sandwich Islands, though two bursts of eloquence called out hearty applause--on the ruins of Palestine, and on what the Pilgrims will not forget. The interview with the Emperor of Russia was adroitly turned by the lecturer against himself. The innuendo on the rapacity of office-holders, and the narration of the discomfort of the Sultan in his married life, provoked a deal of merriment. The lecture will be repeated to-night, at the same place, to accommodate those who were unable to procure seats last evening.




The (San Francisco) Golden Era

1868: April 18

MARK TWAIN'S LECTURE.--This renowned humorist gave a graphic account of his notorious pilgrimage to the Holy Land in his bruited inimitable style last Tuesday evening. As was duly announced, the doors were surrounded at the appointed hour and the insurrection which followed was fully in accordance with prediction. When it is stated that the gentleman was in every respect alive with his usual characteristics, it will be understood that his hearers were well pleased. The lecture was repeated to accommodate those who were unable to obtain seats the first evening.




The (San Francisco) Evening Bulletin

1868: April 15

MARK TWAIN'S LECTURE.--Mark Twain appeared in a singular disguise before an immense audience in Platt's Hall last evening, but his voice and humor betrayed him. He asked his friends of the press to refrain from publishing any synopsis of his discourse, and, having arranged that matter satisfactorily, he proceeded with his lecture. There were many telling points in it--flashes of humor which convulsed his hearers with laughter, and gleams of sentiment which almost induced the wish that he might not resume the humorist's vein. Several passages--descriptive of the solemn grandeur of Rome's gray ruins, and the dreary desolation of the cities of Palestine--were really eloquent. But, on the whole, the lecture was not as completely prepared or warmly received as his first one on the Hawaiian Islands, and after he dismissed the audience there was a general expression of regret that he had not said more about Palestine, etc., and less about the bald-headed, spectacled and sedate old pilgrims on the Quaker City. He said he was disguised for a masquerade last evening, and his desire to attend may have led him to curtail his discourse; if so, those who go this evening may hear more about the cities and countries which he visited.




The (San Francisco) Daily Morning Call

1868: April 15

MARK TWAIN'S LECTURE.--Platt's Hall was crowded to suffocation on the occasion of the first public appearance, in California, of "Mark Twain," since his memorable voyage on the Quaker City. As the lecture is to be repeated this evening, we refrain from giving a synopsis of it, until there shall be no danger of taking the bloom off this pleasant humorist's fancies.


Homepage