March 6 Wednesday – Sam took a 12:05 p.m. train to Springfield, Mass. and then continued on to Pittsfield, where he got there shortly after 4 p.m. [MTNJ 3: 455]. He wrote in his notebook, probably on the train:

March 5 Tuesday – In Hartford, Sam wrote a one-liner to Frank Fuller on his prior promise (see Mar. 3) to stop on his next trip to New York City. He couldn’t do it on the next trip because of appointments, but he would the trip after [MTP].

March 4 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Edgar W. “Bill” Nye and James W. Riley about the Feb. 28 event where he introduced them:

March 3 Sunday – Frank Fuller wrote to Sam’s recent note (now lost, but referred to in notebook entry) announcing he would stop by on his next trip to New York. Fuller wrote, “All right, old boy! Come on, next time or the time after, only come, & no indefinite postponements.” Fuller invited Sam to opening night of a Charles Barnard comedy, The County Fair on Mar. 5.

March 2 Saturday – William Dean Howells’ daughter Winifred Howells died after taking emergency treatments from Dr. S. Weir Mitchell at his clinic in Philadelphia. The treatments involved force-feeding and forced exercise for what was then seen as a catch-all category of female frailty called “neurasthenia.” At one point the young woman sank to 59 lbs. The immediate cause of death at the country retreat in Merchantville, was given as heart failure.

March 1 Friday – Due to the “St. Botolph [Club] reception, after the Authors’ Readings” the night before, Sam was forced to stay over, though he’d planned to return afterward [To Nye & Riley Mar. 4] Likely then he returned home from Boston on this day. His return may have been in the evening for he did not answer a waiting letter from Edward House until the following day, Mar. 2.

March – Daniel Carter Beard illustrated a story called “Wu Chih Tien, the Celestial Princess” in the March issue of Cosmopolitan. Sam saw the issue and became interested in hiring Beard to illustrate CY [MTLTP 254n1]. Sam also noted negatively the story, “Over the Cossack Steppes,” by David Ker, calling it “flatulence” [Gribben 160; MTNJ 3: 457].

From Sam’s notebook:

February 28 Thursday – Sam gave a short speech introducing poet James Whitcomb Riley (1849-1916) and humorist Edgar Wilson “Bill” Nye (1850-1896) at the Tremont Temple in Boston. The pair toured together in 1886 and 1889. Nye founded the Laramie, Wyoming Boomerang in 1881. Fatout writes,

February 27 Wednesday – At 3 p.m. Sam gave a dinner speech at the Wadsworth Athenaeum in Hartford for the Hartford Art Society. Unfortunately, the program, which closed at 5 p.m., was not recorded [MTNJ 3: 447n133]. Note: this has been erroneously reported as the Athenaeum Club in Boston.

February 26 Tuesday – After Edward H. House objected to P&P being dramatized by Abby Sage Richardson, Sam wrote him: