December 14 Friday – Livy and Sam began a letter to Olivia Lewis Langdon that Sam finished Dec. 19. Livy missed her mother and wished they might be together at Christmastime. Theodore Crane was taking some sort of “electricity” treatments, which left pain in his arm and a discouraged outlook, then shared by Sue Crane. Still, Sam reported that Theo was “doing comfortably well, & is slowly improving” [MTP].
December 13 Thursday –Frederick J. Hall wrote to Sam enclosing Dec. 11 Beecher to Webster letter. Negotiations with the Beecher family had taken months; Hall reported that they had returned the $5,000 advance paid before Henry Ward Beecher’s death. In return, Webster & Co. gave back the manuscript of the Life of Christ [MTLTP 252n1].
December 10 Monday – Webster & Co. wrote to Sam that they’d written Mrs. Custer about her book and noted “carefully the various orders in yours of the 9th. … We note your suggestion with reference to having a man with a placard. We only know of one instance where this form of advertising was used; when Keenan’s novel “Trajan” was at the height of its popularity Cassell & Co. had a lot of men parading the streets with these placards….We will …get hold of some of these men” [MTP].
December 9 Sunday – Abby Sage Richardson wrote to Sam, thanking him,
…for your very kind letter received yesterday. Since you give me permission I am going to make the attempt [MTNJ 3: 436n93]. Note: See Dec. 4. Sam and Richardson would sign a contract on Jan. 3, 1889 for her to dramatize P&P.
December 7 Friday – Frederick J. Hall wrote Sam about Mrs. Custer’s desire to buy back the rights to Tenting on the Plains and place the book with another publisher. She felt the book was being neglected by Webster & Co. Hall objected to giving in to her, as “It will be noised around that we made a failure of the book” [MTLTP 252-3n1]. Note: Sam would intervene and soothe Mrs. Custer’s concerns; sales improved in the spring. (See Jan.
December 6 Thursday – In Hartford Sam gave a reading from his work-in-progress (CY) at a gathering for Edith Wilder Smith, wife of Wilder Smith, Hartford clergyman active in charity work. He titled the reading, “King Arthur and the Yankee” [Fatout, MT Speaking 658]. Note: Her 1928 obituary in the Courant lists her as Mrs. Charles T.
December 5 Wednesday – Mary C. MacDonald sent Sam a drawing of a tombstone in a freshy dug grave: “SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF A HOPE BORN AUG. 26 1888 DIED — ALL AONG [MTP]. Note: evidently the Century and others Sam had referred her to had rejected her artwork.
December 4 Tuesday – In Hartford Livy wrote to Grace King, “delighted” in King’s two letters. Livy’s letter reflects the close friendship established between Livy and Sam and King. Livy related Thanksgiving with the Cranes, and Theo’s ups and downs of mood. She also wrote that Annie Webster, Sam’s niece was “now with us and is to be for a few days.” King was now staying with one of her sisters.
December 3 Monday – The German class met at the Clemens home and Livy wrote, “Mr Clemens did not retire to the billiard room. I think that speaks well for Miss Corey” [Livy to King Dec. 4].
Emily I. Maurer wrote from N.Y. “to settle a discussion,” what was the origin of his name? [MTP].
December 2 Sunday – Mrs. Leonard M. Liebling wrote from N.Y. to Sam to settle a bet with her friends — had he published any books of poetry? A pair of gloves was at stake [MTP].