February 13 Wednesday – Sam and Cable breakfasted together and spent four hours talking in Sam’s library. It was the first idle day in four weeks, in which time Sam wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer play and made progress on a dramatization of P&P, neither of which he was able to sell [MTHL 2: 471].

Cable wrote to his wife that Sam was “ferocious & funny” when talking of publishers, and that he played the piano “& sang a German song—one that Longfellow has translated—‘O, hemlock tree, O hemlock tree, How faithful are thy branches.’” Cable sang a tenor part “not trying to use the words.”

      Then back to our talk and out to the library where Mark proposed a little literary scheme for him & 1 or 3 or 4 others; & when Mrs. Clemens came in at 1 P.M we were still talking…

      Mrs. Clemens is reading aloud to Mark & the children. Howard Pyle’s beautiful new version of Robin Hood [1883]. Mark enjoys it hugely; they have come to the death of Robin & will soon be at the end [Turner, MT & GWC 31-2]. Note: the “little literary scheme” was a book to be written jointly.

Sam wrote from Hartford to Howells. He discussed Mallory brothers and Nat Goodwin and noted “Concerning a play, it seems to take longer to hear from New York than from California.” As for Osgood, there was still the matter of the ”Library of Humor,” which Howells answered on Feb. 11 that he’d given to Osgood by Sam’s direction. No matter, Sam responded, Howells had done the work for him, not Osgood.

      You have not delivered it to him for PUBLICATION—nobody can do that but me.

      But if the work is really FINISHED, don’t take a bit of trouble about it; leave it where it is. It is its own & my protection: it is not usable, for I have not delivered it to him.

      But this is all splenetic talk & nonsense, anyway. I have made a contract with him, & will fulfill it or go to hell [470-1].

Sam also wrote to Edgar W. Howe, editor and publisher, author, philosopher and noted “Sage of Potato Hill,” (1853-1937). In 1877, Howe established the Atchison (Kansas) Daily Globe. For nearly half a century, the paper was one of the most widely quoted publications in the country. Sam and Cable had read Howe’s first novel, The Story of a Country Town (1882). Sam praised the book, offered constructive criticism, and expressed a wish that Howe would visit [MTP].