July 19 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to James R. Osgood:
July 20 Thursday – A piece ran in the Elmira Daily Gazette that was reprinted on p. 2 of the New York Times for July 23:
MARK TWAIN AS STRONG AS MR. TILDEN
July 21 Friday – In Elmira, Dr. Thaddeus S. Up de Graff made a visit on “East Hill with 2 office treatments” likely following, where he examined Susie Clemens’ eyes and fit her with glasses [Sept. 1 bill from Dr. Thaddeus S. Up de Graff]. See entry.
July 22 Saturday – After a pleasant visit with his father and siblings in Canada, William Dean Howells and family boarded the S.S. Parisian in Quebec, bound for England [Goodman and Dawson 223].
James R. Osgood wrote to advise they were sending by Am. Express a bunch of books and articles Clemens wanted [MTP].
July 24 Monday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Charles Webster.
Yes, I received & banked both of those checks—and then forgot it.
Damn that Bliss statement. I forgot to return it to you—I wish you had sent me only a copy. I have left the blamed thing in my portfolio of business letters under the table in the billiard room at home. If you shall find that you need it, write George Griffin, “(with S.L. Clemens”) & he will find it in the pocket marked “K.”
July 25 Tuesday ca. – Shortly after his letter of July 24 to Howells, Sam followed up with a P.S.
“O, I forgot to say, that I forwarded the biography, & that it reached the Century all right. Jean’s well at last!” [MTP].
July 26 Wednesday – Jean Clemens’ second birthday.
Sam wrote from Elmira to Charles Webster, about a variety of business matters—Sam had received the “expert’s report” [auditor] of American Publishing’s books, but Sam still didn’t know “whether 50,000 ‘Sketches’ have been sold or not?”—as the man did not specifically mention that book [MTBus 192].
July 27 Thursday – Hooker & Co. sent Sam a check for $244.70 for the sale of his old carriage [MTP].
July 28 Friday – Joel Chandler Harris wrote [MTP].
Estes & Lauriat (Boston booksellers) billed Sam for “1 Strickland’s Queens 26 vols 110.00” Marked paid on Aug. 4 [MTP].
William M. Laffan for Harper & Bros. wrote: “Thanks! I will send you a proof anyhow! My glass was not full, but I hastened away and put you in debt to me to the extent of 15c.” He wrote of hot weather in the high 90s [MTP].
July 29 Saturday – Robert Jones Burdette (1844-1914) wrote and enclosed a poem from “S.A. Hara,” a pseudonym, one of several, used by the crackpot Bristol Conn. grocer, Wallace Muzzy in his series of non-sensical missives to Twain.
July 31 Monday – In Elmira Sam replied to the July 22 from Capt. Edmund Gray (b. 1834) a resident of Gray’s Point, Scott County, Missouri, and Cape Girardeau, and steamboat pilot on the Mississippi for many years.
Hang it, no! I haven’t received Dad’s photograph. Maybe it was sent to Osgood, Boston, instead of to me, at Hartford. Was it?—if so, it’s all right & I shall get it.
August – Sometime during the month, Orion wrote Sam with accusations that Charles Webster had defrauded people with the Watch Co.
August 1 Tuesday – Sam also wrote to Charles Webster, who had conveyed the news of illness there.
“It is dismal news. We had the impression that Annie & the children [at this date they had two: Alice, age six; William, nearly four] were to leave for some country place the moment the summer (June) should begin. It seems a very severe attack, but I hope you & Annie are in better hopes & spirits by this time” [MTP].
August 2 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to John L. RoBards:
Dear John— / What promise? I hardly ever make one—and never make one that is any trouble to keep. Tell me about this one (for I have forgotten it utterly) & if it isn’t any trouble to keep it, I’ll keep it, as sure as you live—otherwise, I’ll add it, without a twinge of conscience, to the million of the same kind that went before it [MTP].
August 3 Thursday – Charles E.S. Wood wrote: “The White Elephant is now all he ought to be and I’m proud of him. After final disposals here is the residue of 1601. The old sheets I destroyed” [MTP].
August 4 Friday – Sam paid Estes & Lauriat of Boston $110 for 26 volumes of Agnes & Elizabeth Strickland’s Lives of the Queens of England from the Norman Conquest, and other works by the two, including a six-volume work by Mary Anne Everett Green, Lives of the Princesses of England. The bill paid was dated July 28 [Gribben 674].
August 5 Saturday – Orion Clemens finished his Aug. 4 letter [MTP].
August 5–9 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Lt. Charles E. S. Wood, who wrote Aug. 3 asking if Sam would like a proof wood engraved portrait by Timothy Cole.
August 7 Monday – Hubbard & Farmer bankers & brokers wrote to Sam, Large printed page of stock prices enclosed. They’d rec’d an order from him this day to sell a stock at over 46 (see JB & W sale Aug. 4), which they interpreted as 46 or better [MTP].
Mollie Kane sent Sam a postcard from Union, Mo. full of shaky handwriting, spelling and grammar errors, asking for an autograph and claiming that her “Grandma used to know your uncle” [MTP].
August 8 Tuesday – Sam was writing chapters for Life on the Mississippi when “New York papers” brought news of an explosion, Aug. 7, from Hickman, Ky. The steamer Gold Dust had blown her boilers, scalding 47 with 17 persons missing. Lem Gray was later found dead, and buried Aug. 23. This was the same packet Sam and Osgood took on the Mississippi in April [Ch 37 LM].
August 9 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Charles Webster.
August 11 Friday – William M. Laffan for Harper & Bros. Wrote that he was going to London and wanted to know “where I will find Osgood when my first critical cocktail emergency arises.” He planned to stay 6 months there [MTP].
August 12 Saturday – J.W. Bryan for St. Louis & Vicksburgh Line wrote from steamer City of Greenville, in St. Louis after seeing a telegram Sam sent to Capt. James O’Neal. He gave details of the injuries in the explosion [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “ ‘Gold Dust’ wounded”
August 13 Sunday – Livy wrote from Elmira to her nephew, Samuel Moffett, saying that Sam was “hard at work” on a new book. LM was a great struggle for Sam. Livy described him coming down from writing:
“…with his head so sore & tired that he cannot bear to have the simplest question asked of him, or be compelled to talk at all, so our evenings are spent in playing Cribbage…” [MTP].
August 14 Monday – Sam wrote to James R. Osgood, letter not extant but referred to in Osgood’s Sept. 2 reply.
John G. Scott wrote from Jamestown, NY to beg for $10 [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Dead-beat”
Charles Webster wrote (only the env. survives) [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “K. Statement"
August 15 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Charles Webster, rather peeved about an eighteen dollar charge for a picture, about comparing engraving on wood with brass, etc. As usual, it fell on Webster’s head to give Sam “the details of this expense, & explain them” [MTP].