November 28 Wednesday – Grace King left Hartford for Baltimore. For the prior three weeks she had been staying with the Charles Dudley Warner family [MTNJ 3: 434n90]. Theodore and Susan L. Crane arrived at the Clemens home for a short stay and to share Thanksgiving celebrations [Livy to Grace King Dec. 4].
The New York Press Club billed Sam $3 for dues to Dec. 1, 1888 [MTP].
November 29 Thursday – Thanksgiving – In Hartford Sam answered the Nov. 26 from Orion, somewhat upset to discover no attendant had been hired for their mother.
November 30 Friday– Sam’s 52nd Birthday. In Hartford Sam responded to a gift (probably of tickets) from Augustin Daly.
I have always avoided the Moody & Sankey revivals, but this kind is just in my line. Mrs. Clemens & I thank you most sincerely.
Sam also sent a one-liner to James B. Pond:
Dear Pond — She can’t read. Ys Ever / Mark
December – Personal Memoirs of P.H. Sheridan issued this month, with great hopes for sales which were not realized [MTNJ 3: 395].
December 1 Saturday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Augustin Daly that the family had company coming Tuesday (Dec. 4) and there was “sickness already in the house” and so regretted being unable to attend the first of “the subscription nights” performance, which implies Sam had purchased or was given seats to several dramas at Daly’s theater for the season.
I write you in order that you may not leave our seats empty & looking like lost teeth in a handsome jaw [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].
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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 15 Saturday – Abby S. Richardson wrote to Sam: “I regret to seem to be pestering you with letters, but I beg to know two things: 1st Do I understand that in case I make a success of the dramatization of The Prince and Pauper you will “charge me half the resulting…or in other words, share the receipts? 2nd Does this contract prevent any toher person from attempting the dramatization of the book while I am doing the work [?]” [MTP].
December 17 Monday – Sam wrote to Augustin Daly, letter not extant but referred to in Daly’s Dec. 18 to Sam [MTP].
Frederick J. Hall for Webster & Co. wrote to Sam, sending “form of contract which has been prepared as near as could be in the language of Mrs. Webster’s propositions. Will you please look it over and return it to me?” [MTP].
December 18 Tuesday – Augustin Daly for Daly’s Theatre wrote to Sam that he’d received his note of the previous day and that he would save “your seats until six each Tuesday”; he invited the Clemenses to have dinner on “whatever Monday you decide to come to town”; Mrs. Daly was in agreement [MTP].
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].
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 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 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 24 Monday – Frederick J. Hall for Webster & Co. wrote to Sam.
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 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.