March 11 Saturday – Arnold, Constable & Co., New York, billed Sam $19.78 for “blankets, gloves, lace, ruffling”; paid Mar. 16 [MTP].
James R. Osgood wrote (Edward B. Dickinson to Osgood Mar. 10 enclosed): “You see by the enclosed that Dickinson cannot go. I have written asking him if he can recommend any one” [MTP]. Note: Sam was looking for a stenographer to go on the Miss. River trip.
March 13 Monday – Sam’s mother, Jane Clemens, and his sister, Pamela Moffett, arrived in Hartford to visit Sam, Livy and the children. They stayed until Apr. 8 [MTHL 1: 393]. Note: MTNJ 2: 457n81 puts the end of the visit at Apr. 7.
March 14 Tuesday – Sam typed a note from Hartford to Frank Fuller, about missing him in New York on his recent trip. Their relationship had been rather vacant since the “steam-generator” fiasco of 1877, when Sam lost $5,000. It’s not clear who re-initiated contact. (See also Mar. 23 entry.)
March 15 Wednesday – Hartford schoolteacher, Roswell H. Phelps, visited Sam to apply for stenographer on the upcoming trip to the Mississippi. Negotiations for salary took place. Phelps may have shown Sam some fundamentals of shorthand, because there are several practice pages of shorthand from this period in Sam’s notebook [MTNJ 2: 453n59].
In Boston, Howells wrote Sam:
March 16 Thursday – After meeting with Sam, Roswell H. Phelps, after conferring with his boss at the Continental Ins. Co., Hartford, outlined in a letter his acceptable conditions for his employment as a stenographer. “Suppose we make it at the rate of $100. per month and all expenses for the time I am actually absent from this office?” [MTP]. These must have been acceptable because Sam quickly agreed and wrote Webster on Mar. 20 of his choice [MTNJ 2: 517].
March 18 Saturday – John Russell Young wrote thanks for Sam’s congratulations on his consulship. Young preferred Japan but bowed to Grant’s “superior and supreme judgment.” He was going to Washington on Tuesday but would still like to visit Sam [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Jno Russell Young / U.S. Minister to China.”
March 19 Sunday – Susy Clemens’ tenth birthday.
Charles B. Paine (8 yr. Old boy in Hallowell, Me.) sent a pre-printed invitation for an autograph [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “No”
William D. Howells wrote [MTP].
March 20 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Charles Webster, asking him to:
“…thank Mr. Whitford for his efforts to get me a stenographer, but I had already secured one, just before your letter came” [MTNJ 2: 517].
Sam also typed a short note to John Russell Young, who had replied to Sam’s request for a visit. “Name the day yourself” Sam offered [MTP].
March 21 Tuesday – From Hartford, Sam typed a letter to Hattie and Karl Gerhardt.
“DON’T YOU IMAGINE ANY NONSENSE ABOUT DISPLEASING US. I AM NOT THE SORT OF PERSON WHO MANIFESTS DISPLEASURE BY SILENCE. I SEND A CABLEGRAM ON THE SPOT. UNTIL YOU GET THAT SORT OF CABLEGRAM, YOU CAN REST PERFECTLY EASY, THAT NO TROUBLE IS BREWING.”
March 22 Wednesday – In Boston, Howells wrote a short note to Sam concerning the “Library of Humor” work and his plans to go to Europe [MTHL 1: 395].
March 23 Thursday – Clara Spaulding arrived at the Clemens home after a trip through the South [MTNJ 2: 458n85].
Frank Fuller wrote to Sam somewhat apologetic for his loss in the “steam-generator” speculation of 1877. He encouraged Sam to buy shares in the Indiana, Bloomington & Western Railroad [460].
March 24 Friday – The death of Henry W. Longfellow saddened New Englanders. He died at the age of 75 of peritonitis [MTHL 1: 398]. Note: His death particularly affected William Dean Howells, who wrote his father that he called to check on Longfellow’s health almost at the exact moment of death [Goodman and Dawson 216].
March 25 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to James R. Osgood about offering the “Stolen White Elephant” to Century. Sam had sent it to Howells to review. There were also some details about letterhead and Charles Clark’s name and P.O. Box being on it [MTP].
March 27 Monday – Sam wrote (typewritten) from Hartford to Charles Webster.
“Come come my boy, tell me what you have been doing. I may be in New York for an hour tomorrow; cannot tell yet” [MTBus 184].
Sam also wrote Howells, who wrote of his shock at Longfellow’s door upon learning of the man’s death:
March 28 Tuesday – Sam went to New York City and was interviewed at the Hotel Brunswick. The following interview appeared on Mar. 29, 1882 in the Wheeling West Virginia Register, reprinted from an article in the N.Y. Mail and Express (mentioned in the article) probably the day before.
March 29 Wednesday – According to the New York Times, page 8 under “PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE,” Samuel L. Clemens, of Hartford,” was at the Hotel Brunswick.
March 30 Thursday – Sam wrote to Christian Tauchnitz, letter not extant but referred to in Tauchnitz, Jr.’s reply of Apr. 15.
March 31 Friday – Hubbard & Farmer bankers & brokers wrote two notes: sold stock and bought J. B. & Y Western @ 45 ½ [MTP].
April – Sam’s notebook has an entry “Gillette ask Chas W Butler about Mrs. Bruner’s play—‘A Mad World’.” Butler was an actor [Gribben 107]. Sam also jotted notes about Mike Fink [229]. Also in his notebook: “War Diary of Gen. Geo. H. Gordon,” referring to A War Diary of Events in the War of the Great Rebellion (1882) [268]. Another entry reads, “Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason—Max Muller’s translation. Macmillan, N.Y.” [363].
April 1 Saturday – Schwartz Bros., New York (soon to be F.A.O. Schwartz) billed Sam $22.25 for Feb. 17, 18, Mar. 17; “dolls, bow, doll beds & bedding, 1 doz arrows, 2 pr skates 4.50; 1 pr skates” [MTP].
Park & Tilford, New York, billed Sam $5 for Mar. 16 purchase “10 Ool tea” (other bills spell this out as oolong tea); paid Apr. 9 [MTP].
April 2 Sunday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Joel Chandler Harris, in Atlanta. Twichell recently returned from a trip down South where he called on Harris with a suggestion of Sam’s that Harris appear on stage with him and read the Remus stories. Trouble was, Harris was exceptionally shy.
April 3 Monday – Sam typed a note from Hartford to Charles Wood, at West Point. He enclosed “the original of” the 1601 manuscript as Wood had suggested, and explained there were a few archaic spellings that Wood should feel free to fix. According to Leon, Wood agreed to use West Point’s printing press to run off about 60 copies [228].
April 4 Tuesday – Frank Fuller wrote about his plans for selling stocks [MTP].
George Hamlin wrote on Chicago Grand Opera House notepaper asking for an autograph [MTP]. Note: SASE in file not used.
Caroline B. Le Row wrote to thank Sam for his permission to use McWilliams sketches in her youth reader book [MTP].
April 5 Wednesday – James R. Osgood wrote proposing a royalty for LM [MTP].
Orion Clemens wrote to Sam about “trying to work into business naturally”, Orion to Rhodes & Mclure Apr. 5 enclosed. “My idea was to live in a village and do business in Chicago by aid of the railroads” [MTP].
April 6 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to the office of the Secretary of War, requesting a map of the Mississippi River. In Sam’s notebook: “Cut the map of the Mississippi into 20 pieces (full page size) & interleave it along through the book, beginning at St. Louis & going down section by section to N.O.” [MTNJ 2: 455].
Sam also wrote to William Thomas St. Clair letter not extant but referred to in St. Clair’s Apr. 10 reply.