Hartford House: Day By Day

August 4 Saturday – Sam wrote to Charles E. Perkins, letter not extant but referred to in Perkins’ Aug. 8; Sam likely directed him to deposit a draft from Maze Edwards.

August 5 Saturday – In Townsend Harbor, Mass., Howells wrote to Sam. After some playful recriminations about sending a long letter and receiving back only a postcard, Howells told of their vacation, his writing, and his beginning of the life of Rutherford B. Hayes (1822-1893) for the campaign. He also asked about Sam’s “double-barrel novel” and would he sell it to the Atlantic for next year? [MTHL 1: 142].

August 5 Sunday – Charles T. Parsloe wrote to Sam that the new ending to the second act was tried and :

August 6 or 7 Monday – Sam responded from Elmira to a request by Hugh F. McDermott that he attend a flag raising for political candidates Samuel J. Tilden (1814-1886) and Thomas A. Hendricks (1819-1885) at a Jersey City, New Jersey club.

August 6 Monday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Elisha Bliss about copyright law, Canadian piracy, Andrew Chatto visiting Canada, and the requirement for a work to be registered in Canada 60 days before publication, something Moncure Conway did not do with The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and likely was unaware of [MTLE 2: 123].

August 7 Monday – Elisha Bliss wrote proof notes on TS to Sam: “Richardson made more trouble over every page than you do in a whole book. Your model MS is my standard to gauge others by, & must not be much better & cant be really” [MTP].

August 7 Tuesday – In Elmira Sam wrote to Frank Millet, responding to a recent letter. “All the world’s a stage & everybody is writing plays for it,” Sam wrote, reshaping a line from Shakespeare. Sam thought Ah Sin was going well; Joaquin Miller had a play opening at Wood’s Museum in New York on Aug. 27, but Sam couldn’t recall the name of it (The Danites, or, the Heart of the Sierras opened in NYC on Aug.

August 8 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Bliss. Sam had received a response from Bliss to his last letter and denied making propositions to Dustin, Gilman & Co. or any other publisher. Sam agreed to make The Adventures of Tom Sawyer a holiday book. Sam also wanted Howells’ Atlantic review to be put into the prospectus that went to editors.

August 8 Wednesday – Charles E. Perkins wrote to Sam: “Yours of the 4th inst is recd. I have recd from Mr Maze Edwards $259.36 & placed it to your credit as directed by you—” [MTP].

E. Kirkham wrote a friendly fan letter from Hamilton, Bermuda to Clemens, in which he mentioned reading and laughing over Helen’s Babies by John Habberton (1876) [MTP].

August 9 Monday – Dan De Quille wrote to the Enterprise that Bateman’s point had water on three sides and was foggy and breezy. Sam “is very indolent and after reading about a thousand pages [MS pages] said it was all right—he did not want to read any more” [MTL 6: 521]. Dan left sometime between this day and Aug. 12; he took a steamboat trip to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket [531n1].

August 9 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to William Dean Howells after receiving his letter. Sam mentioned the Tilden club invitation and his answer, Susy’s larger shoes (which she used as an excuse not to be able to pray), the idyllic setting of Quarry Farm and this noteworthy item:

August 9 Thursday – Sam purchased a copy of Alexandre Dumas’ (1824-1895) play, Le Demi-Monde (1855) from James R. Osgood & Co. [Gribben 207].

August, mid – Sam gave a picnic speech at Castle Hill Town and Country Club, Newport, R.I. [Roche 23-27].

Hartford Life – Pirates of Sellers Play – Queer Letters – Beecher Trial –Tom Sawyer - Sketches New & Old – Gondour – De Quille’s Bonanza Book – Dreaming of a River Trip - Drunk Wet Nurse – Baseball, Umbrellas & a Boy’s Body – Chasing Down Gill - Bateman’s Point & Bowling History – Moncure Conway

1875 – Actor John Drew (1853-1927) remembered that Sam first saw him in the 1875 play, The Taming of the Shrew in New York City [Gribben 631]. The exact date has proven elusive.

The Nation’s Centennial Year
1601 – Started on Huck Finn – Ah Sin & Bret Harte – West Point – Tom Sawyer Praised Skeleton
Stories – Conway as Agent – John Marshall & Henry Disinterred – Sam on Stage Centennial in Philly
– Advice to American Publishing Co. – Hayes & Torchlight Parades Political Speeches – Tauchnitz –
Belford Pirates – Readings in New England
Jabberwock Auctioneer – Crazy Isabella

Sam’s Portrait – Bayard Taylor – Nephew Sammy – Duncan’s Lawsuit
Lobbying for Appointments – Alexandroffsky Marvels – Ah Sin Opened
Bermuda! with Twichell – Rambling Notes – John T. Lewis, Hero – Tramp of the Sea
The “First Home” Telephone – Whittier Birthday Debacle – Written Apologies

1877 – Paine gives this year for an additional excerpt written for Mark Twain’s Autobiography, “Early Years in Florida, Missouri” [7-10].

Sam’s sketch on Francis Lightfoot Lee ran in Pennsylvania Magazine, 1, No. 3 [Gribben 539].

Aftermath of Disgrace – Orion Apes Jules Verne – Bliss Contract for Europe Travel Book Quick Jaunts to Fredonia & Elmira – Family Sails for Europe - Frankfort, Hamburg to Heidelberg – Mannheim Operas – Speech at Heidelberg University - Twichell Joined in Baden Baden – Excursions by Foot, Boat, Rail, and Cart – The Alps - Twichell Departs – Italy – Munich for the Winter

December 1 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Miss Street, daughter of James Street, in 1861 agent for the Overland Telegraph Company in Salt Lake City. Street met Sam and Orion on their trip to Nevada. Sam also renewed the acquaintance in San Francisco, and Street is portrayed in Chapters 12 and 14 of Roughing It [MTL 6: 299]. Sam responded to a request, most likely for his autograph.

December 1 Friday – Isabella Beecher Hooker took a friend to see the Clemens’ home. Andrews observes that “the whole neighborhood felt free to show it to those who had not seen it” [86]. Isabella also ran into Bret Harte there, and “felt almost a dislike of him….” She had “an uncomfortable interview” during her visit with Sam that Andrews says “grew in importance as she thought about it, despite her realization that she might be oversensitively magnifying its significance.” From Isabella’s diary:

December 1 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to an unidentified person who solicited an autograph. Sam responded that the “great question of the day” didn’t disturb him because he believed there wouldn’t be any eternal punishment, “except for the man who invented steel pens” [MTLE 2: 199].

December 1-15 Saturday –During this period Sam wrote to the Chicago Union Veteran Club:

December 10 Thursday – Bret Harte gave a lecture in Farwell Hall, Chicago, titled “American Humor.” Though briefly treating Mark Twain, Harte offered praise:

“To-day, among our latest American humorists, such as Josh Billings, The ‘Danbury Newsman,’ and Orpheus C. Kerr, Mark Twain stands alone as the most original humorist that America has produced. He alone is inimitable” [Tenney, Supplement American Literary Realism, Autumn 1981 p162].

December 10 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford per Fanny Hesse to Andrew Chatto, thanking him for the royalty check of £15 and for “the other half of the Arabian Nights.” Sam wrote he might have an article soon [MTLE 2: 202].

December 11 Friday – In Cambridge, Mass., William Dean Howells wrote:

“Don’t you dare to refuse that invitation to the Atlantic dinner for Tuesday evening. For fear you mayn’t have got it, I’ll just say that it was from the publishers, and asked you to meet Emerson, Aldrich, and all ‘those boys’ at the Parker House at 6 o’clock, Tuesday, Dec. 14. Come! ” [MTHL 1: 51].

December 11 Monday – Charles Perkins, Sam’s attorney, had advised that John T. Raymond was still waiting for a contract for the next season. Sam asked if Perkins would draw it and let him see it first; also that he had another contract to be drawn and a deed for Perkins to squint at [MTLE 1: 153].

December 11 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford per Fanny Hesse to an unidentified person:

To the Editor of —— [Sam may have sent several letters to western papers, or specifically the paper that Orion clipped the article from, unknown]