It was on April 19, 1906, the day following the great earthquake, that
Mark Twain gave a “Farewell Lecture” at Carnegie Hall for the benefit
of the Robert Fulton Memorial Association. Some weeks earlier Gen.
Frederick D. Grant, its president, had proposed to pay one thousand
dollars for a Mark Twain lecture; but Clemens' had replied that he was
permanently out of the field, and would never again address any audience
that had to pay to hear him.
“I always expect to talk as long as I can get people to listen to me,”
he sand, “but I never again expect to charge for it.” Later came one
of his inspirations, and he wrote: “I will lecture for one thousand
dollars, on one condition: that it will be understood to be my farewell
lecture, and that I may contribute the thousand dollars to the Fulton
Association.”
It was a suggestion not to be discouraged, and the bills and notices,
“Mark Twain's Farewell Lecture,” were published without delay.
I first heard of the matter one afternoon when General Grant had called.
Clemens came into the study where I was working; he often wandered
in and out-sometimes without a word, sometimes to relieve himself
concerning things in general. But this time he suddenly chilled me by
saying:
“I'm going to deliver my farewell lecture, and I want you to appear on
the stage and help me.”