January 6, 1890 Monday

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January 6 MondayGeorge W. Cable wrote to Sam from Northampton, Mass.

I have asked my publishers…to send you a copy of my Strange True Stories of Louisiana [Gribben 124]. Note: Strange True Stories of Louisiana by Cable was published in 1889.

January 5, 1890 Sunday

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January 5 Sunday – The New York Times, p.11 ran a long description of the life and biography of ex-senator from New York, Roscoe Conkling (1829-1888). Conkling’s biography was published by Webster & Co. Interestingly, Conkling and Sam had both opposed the 1876 candidacy of James G. Blaine.

The Charleston, S.C. Sunday News, p.5 under “New Books” praised CY:

January 3, 1890 Friday

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January 3 Friday – In Hartford Sam met Edward Bellamy, author of Looking Backward: 2000-1887 (1888). Sylvester Baxter accompanied Bellamy at Sam’s invitation [MTHL 2: 622n2]. Bellamy and Baxter shared political sentiments.

Sam also wrote to Isabel Von Oppen, who had sent a manuscript. Sam wrote that he was “not connected with a magazine or other periodical” and would not be able to use her submission [MTP].

January 2, 1890 Thursday

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January 2 ThursdayDesmond O’Brien reviewed CY in the London weekly Truth, p.25, calling it,

…a bizarre book, full of all kinds of laughable and delightful incongruities — the most striking of its incongruities, however, being unconscious, grim, and disenchanting…. His fooling is admirable, and his preaching is admirable, but they are mutually destructive [Tenney 19].

January 1, 1890 Wednesday

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January 1 Wednesday – Sam likely returned to Hartford after his night at the Author’s Club’s Watch Night.

Daniel Frohman wrote to Sam: “yes, the child named in Mr. Chatto’s letter is the one I am thinking of and who has already been written to” [MTP]. Note: relating to the P&P play; child actor not specified.

Joe Goodman wrote at 3 p.m. from N.Y. on Hoffman House stationery to Sam:

January 1890

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January – William Dean Howells, in Harper’s Monthly, “Editor’s Study,” p.319-21, praised CY.

Mr. Clemens, we call him, rather than Mark Twain, because we feel that in this book our arch-humorist imparts more of his personality than in anything else he has done. Here he is to the full the humorist, as we know him; but he is very much more, and his strong, indignant, often infuriate hate of injustice, and his love of equality, burn hot through the manifold adventures and experiences of the tale. …

December 30, 1889 Monday

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December 30 MondayKingsland Smith of the St. Paul Roller Mill Co. wrote to Sam about dividends forthcoming and a reorganization of the company. Sam would stand to get about $5,000 in stock of the new company. Smith wrote, “Please advise if you wish to withdraw entirely or if you would like to continue” [MTP] Note: Sam would not have received this notice until after the new year, since it was postmarked from St. Paul, Minn.

December 29, 1889 Sunday

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December 29 Sunday – In Boston, William Dean Howells wrote to Sam:

I have just heated myself up with your righteous wrath about our indifference to the Brazilian Republic. But it seems to me that you ignore the real reason for it which is that there is no longer an American Republic, but an aristocracy-loving oligarchy in place of it. Why should our Money-bags rejoice in the explosion of a Wind-bag?