Home at Hartford: Day By Day

January 15 Thursday – William Mackay Laffan wrote again to ask Sam if he’d not just attend but “participate” in the Tile Club dinner on the 24th [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote the date, place & time on the env.

January 15 Sunday – The Brooklyn Eagle, page 1, ran an article headlined “SAGEBRUSH SKETCHES, How Mark Twain’s Brightest Effort Was Kept from Print.” The paper gave credit without a prior date to the San Francisco Call. It seems Joe Goodman once called upon Sam to write up a fancy new saloon in Virginia City. Sam gathered a box of liquors from the saloon and “arranged them in a long row,” then tasting and describing each in print.

January 15 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Charles Webster about being overcharged on a bill for work on the alarm system at the Farmington Ave. house. Sam added that he liked Webster’s “circular,” which was probably for LM, scheduled to be published in May [MTBus 208].

Sam also wrote to George W. Cable: 

January 15 Tuesday – Sam wrote to Kingsland Smith, of St. Paul Roller Mill Co., Kingsland Smith, of St. Paul Roller Mill Co. letter not extant but referenced in Smith’s Feb. 23 reply.

January 15 Thursday – Cable rose at four in the morning to catch a train, reaching Burlington, Iowa at a quarter to seven. Sam stayed behind in Keokuk to spend more time with his mother, Jane Clemens [Turner, MT & GWC 88]. The Keokuk Gate City ran an article discussing Sam’s lectures and his greetings to his mother [Tenney 14].

January 15 Friday – In Hartford Sam wrote to James B. Pond reminding, “Chamberlaine’s letter distinctly begged me to implore you to give him a date for Cable.” Sam didn’t have to fill in for Cable should he be unable to attend, and wouldn’t go to Concord, Mass. for the reading “in any circumstances.” Note: Mr. & Mrs. Augustus P. Chamberlaine were friends of Ralph Waldo Emerson.

January 15 Saturday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Brown & Gross, Hartford Bookseller, ordering Thomas Babington Macaulay’s History of England (1869) and John Richard Green’s one-volume version of A Short History of the English People; both books in half-morocco [MTP; Gribben 274 & 437]. See Jan. 20.

January 15 Sunday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Robert M. Howland, his old mining buddy from Nevada days. Sam’s last mention of Howland was to Calvin Higbie on Dec. 16, 1886. He’d run into Howland in New York, and Sam felt him prosperous enough to recommend that Higbie seek financial help from him. Howland may still have been in the east, and interested in speculation.

My Dear Robert —

January 15 Tuesday – Webster & Co. wrote to Sam proposing to sell the rights to the bio of Henry Ward Beecher to Bromfield & Co., “a small but reliable publishing firm” in N.Y. The book had been a loser to about $2,000 and the proposal was to ask that amount [MTP].

January 15 Wednesday – Eli H. Chandler of Kansas City, Kansas wrote at sea, returning from London to Sam, and enclosed clippings from the Jan. 13 London Daily Telegraph, which he claimed had the highest circulation in the world. Chandler observed that the editor of the Telegraph “totally misunderstands and misconceives the scope and intention of your book” (CY). The article called the book a “travesty…that tries to deface our moral and literary currency” [MTP].

January 15 Thursday – In Washington Sam met at 11 a.m. with Senator John P. Jones, though the silver legislation was not yet completed by the Senate. Kaplan writes, “Jones gave him a grudging few minutes, told him he was too busy with Senate affairs, and rushed him out.” Sam’s follow up letter of Jan. 20 does not reflect an offense of any sort over this meeting, and addresses concerns or suggestions Jones must have made concerning the Paige typesetter.

January 16 Sunday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Will Clemens (William Montgomery Clemens 1860-1931); no relation, so Sam claimed in 1908—see Nov. 18, 1879 entry), enclosing a note to Will’s unidentified friend who evidently sought advice as to how to live life. Sam answered:

January 16 Monday – Worden, Webb & Co. wrote advising of the sale of stock, 100 shares of Western Union @ 82 [MTP].

January 16 Wednesday – Charles Webster wrote business: royalty check enclosed $773.20; letter from John T. Raymond asking him to call this afternoon [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Scrapbooks 6 mos ending 1883 — $773.”

January 16 Friday – Sam wrote from Chicago to Susy Clemens, thanking her for a letter and asking her to write “two or three times a week in Mamma’s place…What I’m after is to save her” [MTP].

Sam also wrote to Orion, thanking him for a “perfect 24 hours there, with the sort of social activity which produces rest instead of fatigue” [MTP].

January 16 Saturday – Howells ended his visit this day or the next, and wrote thanks on Jan. 18 from Auburndale, Mass. [MTHL 2: 550].

Worden & Co., Wall Street brokers, wrote acknowledging Sam’s return of a $50 check to C. Depew, for a dividend to be shared [MTP]. Note: Chauncey Depew.

January 16 Sunday – The Brooklyn Eagle, p.9 ran an article from a Toledo, Ohio newspaper about a rags to riches in reverse story, and a connection with Sam that has yet to be verified:

FROM WEALTH TO A WORKHOUSE

A Man Distinguished in War and in Journalism Sentenced as a Tramp

Cincinnati, O., January 15

January 16 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Andrew Chatto again, on the status of the Library of Humor. The illustrations were being made for Chatto & Windus and would be forwarded soon.

January 16 Wednesday – Webster & Co. notified Sam that the stock of several old volumes had been sold to Watson Gill; also, that Gill had included an order for 50 of Mrs. Custer’s book, Tenting on the Plains [MTLTP 252n1,n3]. Hall added, “We have the daily report system running now & so far it works finely. We know precisely where we stand now daily [MTP].

January 16 Thursday – Edmund Hudson, editor of the National Democrat Weekly (Washington) wrote after hearing about the Thorne typesetters from Sylvester Baxter of the Boston Herald.

January 16 Friday – Sam took the train for Hartford shortly after 2:30 p.m., the time noted on his letter to Kate Foote in response to her invitation of Jan. 14 (not extant). “…recent deaths in our family circle forbid me to assist at any public function for the winter” [MTP]. Note: Olivia Lewis Langdon passed away on Nov. 28, 1890.

January 17 Monday – In Boston, Howells wrote to Sam, “glad to co-operate” in “Gebbie’s Cyclopaedia” (which became Library of Humor) project. He was “heartily in for it” at the price of $5,000 on terms acceptable to Sam. Howells also mentioned “Two cases of measles,” and “an attack of two publishers,” which referred to James R. Osgood in conflict with Henry O. Houghton after the latter had bought out Osgood.

January 17 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to James R. Osgood, still apologetic.

January 17 Saturday – Sam and Cable gave two more performances at the Central Music Hall in Chicago.  Before the matinee performance, Sam wrote Livy:

January 17 Sunday – In Hartford Sam wrote to George Henry Himes (1844-1940), about old Hannibal fellow printers Urban E. Hicks, Thomas P. (Pet) McMurray, and Wales R. McCormick. He thanked Himes for sending a text (unspecified) and mentioned he was to speak at the printers’ dinner in New York.