January 27 Monday – The New York Times, p.5, ran a long article on Edward House’s lawsuit, “MARK TWAIN HAULED UP,” which cited from Sam’s Dec. 17 & 26, 1886 letters to House about dramatizing P&P. Also quoted were affidavits in the suit, and House’s Aug. 29, 1887 letter to Sam. There is little doubt as to the sentiments of the Times (see Whitford’s reason for a Times grudge, Jan. 31):
January 26 Sunday – In the evening William Dean Howells left the Clemenses and Hartford, catching the train “just as it began to move” [MTHL 2: 628]. Howells wrote his father on Feb. 2, apologizing for failing to write “last Sunday,” this day: “I had been at New York, and I stopped to see Mark Twain at Hartford and we talked much all day” [MTP: Life in Letters of William Dean Howells, p.1 Doubleday, 1928].
January 25 Saturday – After his Jan. 23 dinner at the Union League Club, William Dean Howells stopped off at Hartford, probably staying the night. He wrote to Sam of the visit and his departure on Jan. 28 and also on Feb. 2 to his father [MTHL 2: 628&n4].
The Critic reviewed the stage version of P&P.
January 24 Friday – In Hartford Sam wrote a two-line decline to Clarence W. Bowen:
My hand is out, on miscellaneous work, from lack of practice, & so it would not be worth while to try [MTP].
January 23 Thursday – Sam signed an affidavit in the House lawsuit case, outlining William Gillette’s early (1884) involvement with a possible P&P play in order to discredit Edward H. House’s claims [MTNJ 3: 544n185].
The Brooklyn Eagle carried an announcement on p.4 of February’s articles for Harper’s Magazine, Number 477. Among them is listed a story collected in 1893’s The £1,000,000 Bank-Note and Other New Stories:
January 22 Wednesday – J.L. Dawkins, secretary of the Toronto Anti-Poverty Society, wrote to Sam commenting on the libertarian principles of P&P and asking if Sam might lecture for the society sometime in the spring [MTP]. This was one of a probable hundreds of such requests during these years.
January 21 Tuesday – The Boston Daily Globe, Jan. 22, 1889 p.4 “Howard’s Gossip” and datelined New York, Jan. 21, had a few words to say about P&P.
The “Prince and Pauper” needs pruning.
Elsie Leslie does admirable work as the Prince and fair work as the Pauper.
She certainly is a daisy.
Mark Twain’s speech was in his self-complacent line, and a dead copy of Artemus Ward. Twain could never be a favorite here.
January 20 Monday – The Clemens family went to New York for the opening of the P&P play at the Broadway Theatre. This was Abby Sage Richardson’s version, produced by Daniel Frohman and staged by David Belasco. Sam stood hand in hand with the star of the show, little Elsie Leslie, and gave a curtain speech following the third act. Livy wrote to her mother about the evening on Feb. 2:
January 18 Saturday – The Hartford Courant printed “Mark Twain’s Lawsuit” on the front page.
Mr. Edward H. House, the author and journalist, has brought suit against Mr. Samuel L. Clemens, alleging breach of contract in relation to the dramatization of The Prince and the Pauper. An acting version of the play in question by Mrs. Abby Sage Richardson is announced for next Monday evening at the Broadway Theater, New York, with Elsie Leslie in the parts of Edward VI and Tom Canty.
January 17 Friday – A Hartford Courant reporter called on Sam in the afternoon, seeking answers about the dispute with Edward H. House over the dramatization contract for P&P. (See Jan.18 entry.)
Sam forwarded Hudson’s Jan. 16 letter to R.W. Nelson of the Thorne Typesetting Co., writing on the bottom: