Home at Hartford: Day By Day

May 30 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Charles Webster. Sam forwarded notes he’d made a week or two before, one of which suggested Slote had used his money to pay Kaolatype debts incurred before Sam purchased stock [MTBus 158].

May 30 Tuesday – In Lexington, Mass. William Dean Howells wrote hoping to lure the Clemenses for a visit before they left for Elmira for the summer and before he sailed for Europe [MTHL 1: 404-5].

May 30 Wednesday – The New York Times ran a short piece, page one, on Sam’s efforts to secure Canadian copyright:

MARK TWAIN’S COPYWRIGHT STRUGGLES.

May 30 Saturday – In Hartford, Sam and Livy wrote to Hattie Gerhardt. Hattie had been ill, so coordinating a visit was the object of this letter, the body by Livy with PS added by Sam.

May 30 Sunday — In Theatre Magazine on this date appeared the following:

May 30 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote a paragraph to an unidentified woman:

Dear Madam: I could not approve or consent. It has been tried many times; I have tried it myself. Very Truly yours [MTP].

Orion Clemens finished his May 29 letter to Sam.

May 30 Wednesday – John Habberton for the N.Y. Herald wrote to Sam, thanking him for his “kind note of 28th inst.,” and asking if Webster & Co. could handle his “screed” [MTP].

The Hartford Courant, p.8 under “Sheridan’s Memoirs” ran “An Interesting Interview” with Mark Twain.

May 30 Thursday – In Hartford, Sam wrote a one-liner to Richard Watson Gilder of Century Magazine:

All right; I’ll tackle it in a month hence, when we shall be out of this turmoil & in the summer nest [MTP]. Note: part, if not most, of the “turmoil” had to do with houseguests — the Wheelers and Mr. Keith left on May 27, the same day Samuel and Mary Moffett were to arrive.

May 30 Saturday – In the evening Sam and Livy went to a poetry reading featuring Annie E. Trumbull. Sam wrote a letter of compliment on her performance the day after [MTP].

Joseph N. Verey wrote from London on United States Exchange letterhead to Sam. Verey wrote a pleasant, friendly letter and offered his guide services — his pay was now 150 pounds per month, board free at hotels [MTP].

Check # Payee Amount [Notes]

May 31 Monday – Western Union Telegraph Co. of Hartford billed Sam by the month. For May, the following: May 1 for delivery; May 4, 5, 14, 17, 27, 31 to New York; May 24, 26 to Elmira. Bills contain number of words written for each message sent, but did not specify the recipient [MTP]. Note: perhaps none of these telegrams has survived or can be identified. The Elmira messages were most likely either to the Langdons or the Cranes.

May 31 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Webster advising him on the stock price of American Bank Note Co. Howells had informed Sam that a broker named Shepard could get the stock cheaper than Bissell, the Hartford broker Sam usually dealt with. Sam authorized Webster to buy $1000 worth.

May 31 Wednesday – Hubbard & Farmer bankers & brokers sent a statement showing $4,167.05 credit in Sam’s account [MTP].

May 31 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Charles Webster, praising the contracts for paper and printing he’d made on Huckleberry Finn. “If we had had such on those other books I would have come out a good deal better.” Sam felt the project of the cheap book (1002d Arabian Night) had been delayed too long, and gave Webster “one solid day” to “catch that American News manager,” probably an agent who would sell/distribute the work.

May 31 Monday – Koto House wrote from N.Y. to Sam “(for Mrs. Clemens),” explaining her delays since receiving a telegram from Livy, which invited her to visit before the family left for Elmira. Koto suggested Saturday next (June 5), though was unsure if that would even be possible, though thought it “probable”.

May 31 Tuesday – Sylvester Baxter for Boston Herald wrote to Sam: “Yours received with enclosure. Thanks for your splendid letter. If all had your spirit there would indeed be no difficulty…The old man was touched. It is pathetic.” Sam wrote on the envelope, “Reply to a contribution to Walt Whitman” [MTP].

Check #  Payee  Amount  [Notes]

May 31 Friday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Miss Mary (unknown) declining to “respond in the body.”

I have reached the time of life when one has nothing to do & cannot get any time to do it in; & so I am obliged to stick close at home & seize every opportunity that offers. This does not accomplish anything, but it keeps one’s conscience easy [MTP].

May 31 Saturday – D.B. S. John Roosa, M.D., New York, receipted $20 “for Mrs Clemens and Susie” [MTP]. Note: Dr. Roosa was an eye doctor.

May 31 Sunday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Annie E. Trumbull about the previous evening’s event:

It certainly was the perfectest evening I have seen in many a day. You struck twelve in your speech over the back of the chair. I heard Mrs. Clemens say to Susy last night, “I never see Annie Trumbull but she makes me wish I had brains too” [MTP].

The N.Y. World ran an interview, “Mark Twain on Humor,” by Raymond Blathwait (1855-1936), p.6.

May 4 Tuesday – Charles Howard Young wrote from Hartford, Mercier to Young Apr. 4 enclosed from Paris, thanking Sam for his autograph [MTP].

May 4 Wednesday – Charles Webster wrote a postcard sized note to Sam that his letters came daily but he had been too busy to answer them. “I have a good deal to tell you & will try to write tomorrow. I saw Sneider yesterday, he refuses to show me the experiment.” He also made Slote pay up [MTP].

May 4 Thursday – Sam wrote that he and Bixby “joined a party of ladies and gentlemen, guests of Major Wood, and went down the river fifty-four miles, in a swift tug” [Ch 48 LM].

From Sam’s notebook:

May 4 Sunday – Sam wrote from Hartford to the Gerhardts in Paris, France. Sam disclosed the family wouldn’t be traveling to Europe this year—pleading poverty.

We have made but few investments in the last few years which have not turned out badly. Our losses during the past three years have been prodigious.

May 4 Monday – James Redpath wrote to arrange a meeting in NYC. “If you are to be down on a Thursday I wish to take you to the Twilight Club”. He offered several other plans [MTP]. Note: this is clearly a reply to a non-extant letter by Clemens.

May 4 Tuesday

William Dean Howells would be much affected by the Haymarket riot (there was actually no riot), which Goodman and Dawson in their biography of Howells write, “marked the culmination of two decades of social conflict and resulted in a trial that gripped the entire country” [276].

May 4 Wednesday – Vaughn E. Wyman wrote from Perry, Ohio asking how Sam got his pen name, and did he know of Miss Edith Thomas’ works; Wyman had a high regard for Poe’s works but did not think “him equal to Mr. Howells.” Sam wrote on the envelope, “Dam fool. No Answer” [MTP]. Note: Edith Matilda Thomas (1854-1925).