December 29 Saturday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Will Bowen answering a recent letter (unlisted).

I am exceedingly glad to know that your little people have come through safely & that the shadow has passed. … The children will be glad to get Mrs. Bowen’s Texan flowers & will be on the lookout for them with the interest of their sex in the nearest image which Nature affords of their sex. …. It is possible that my machine will be finished in a few days, now — but we never prophecy any more [MTP].

December 28 Friday – Charles D. Poston wrote from Washington, D.C. to Sam on Dept. of Interior, US Geogical Survey letterhead to wish Sam a happy new year “with reminiscences of Salisbury and Ventnor” [MTP]. Note: Ventnor a seaside resort on the Isle of Wight, off the southern coast of England; Salisbury large gardens there. On Dec. 28, 1873 Sam made a quick stop there to hunt up a woman. See entry, Vol. I.

December 27 Thursday – Sam had received Baroness Gripenberg’s letter of Nov. 8 from Finland, where she’d had the one-legged goose story published in a Swedish newspaper. A correspondent to the paper had argued that the story was taken from Boccaccio’s Decameron, and accused Mark Twain of plagiarism, which upset the Baroness. Sam’s reply is noteworthy in that it explores his views on originality and plagiarism.

December 26 Wednesday – In New York City on East 17th Street, William Dean Howells wrote a short paragraph to Sam.

The Moretti club dines the first Friday after New Year’s: Jan. 4, 1889. Will you come? I can give you a bed, and a hearty welcome. We shall dine at 6:30; so get here early enough to warm your feet before that [MTHL 2: 602]. Note: Moretti’s restaurant on 14th Street was a hangout for theatrical and literary sorts. See note1 of source.

December 25 Tuesday – Christmas – Sam inscribed a copy of HF to George L. Bill:

To / Mr. George L. Bill / with the compliments of / The Author. / ~ / Dec. 25/88 [MTP].

Livy inscribed a copy of Charles Holder’s Marvels of Animal Life (1885) to her daughter Clara Clemens [Gribben 316].

December 24 Monday – Frederick J. Hall for Webster & Co. wrote to Sam.

December 22 Saturday – In an agreement signed this day, Frederick J. Hall bought out Charles Webster’s interest in Webster & Co., for $12,000. The agreement would be effective as of Apr. 1, 1889 [MTHL 2: 610n1].

December 21 Friday – In Hartford Sam wrote to his old friend Frank Fuller. Sam’s letter is obviously a response to Fuller’s (not extant). Fuller had been influential in getting Sam to invest in several schemes and securities, and it seems from his reply below that Fuller was up to more promoting.

December 20 Thursday – Sam inscribed a copy of The Stolen White Elephant to Joseph Lane.

To / Joseph Lane/ with the regards of / The Author. / ~ / Dec. 20/88.

Note: This may be Joseph Lane (1851-1920), British anarchist and one of the little-known founders of the libertarian socialist movement in Britain, author of An Antistatist, Communist Manifesto (1887). Or, more likely it was Joseph G. Lane, a wealthy Hartford grocer.

December 19 Wednesday – In Hartford Sam finished the letter that he and Livy began on Dec. 14. Livy was “scouring around all the time, after economical Christmas presents” and,

All are well, here, except Livy & Clara & Susie Clemens & Theodore & me — & we are improving [MTP].