Just some thoughts regarding Sam and GW Cable, I had not spent much time examining Cable’s writings, or his life in general, only being amused by Sam’s increasing animosity towards Cable as their lecture tour continued. I had assumed, because of the material he read from on the tour, that Cable was attracted to the Creole culture. Such was not the case. I suspect that Sam was most impressed by Cable’s early writings, without paying much attention to Cable’s biases. Elmo Howell writes: “Even those who do not share his views acknowledge the charm of his sketches of Creole manners, which he, Anglo-Saxon. and Presbyterian, could not approve. Born of a New England mother and brought up in a strict Puritan household, he never became a part of the excitement of the French Quarter, about which he knew so much and where he liked to stroll with his guests from out of town, like any other tourist. He kept aloof, and so his pages are lacking in that generous sentiment which comes from the author’s identification with his subject. His approach is cerebral, his effect almost wholly visual.”

I became aware of Cable’s bias only after coming across David Fears’ Day By Day entries regarding Grace King’s visits with the Clemens family. I found Elmo Howell’s article, “George Washington Cable’s Creoles: Art and Reform in ‘The Grandissimes’”, The Mississippi Quarterly, Winter of 1972-73., in JSTOR

I knew that Cable had become unpopular in the South and had thought this was because he advocated for civil rights for Negroes. This was possibly part of the reason but more importantly Creoles found Cable’s work to be insulting. Cable was “Anglo-Saxon and Presbyterian”, Creoles are for the most part Catholic. Cable could not approve of this culture. More than just the Creole culture, as Sam and Grace shared common ground in Mississippi River cultural backgrounds, she remained a close family friend for many years. Cable was adverse to Mississippi River culture, preferring a New England environment. and I suspect this may be why, more than his irritating habits on the Twain-Cable Tour, their association remained distant.