July 23 Saturday – In Elmira Sam telegraphed Franklin G. Whitmore that he was on his way to Hartford.
I am coming & shall be glad to meet all of you at my house next Wednesday eve & talk the thing all over have statics and other information ready that can bear upon the matter [MTP].
July 24 Sunday – In Elmira Sam wrote his mother, Jane Clemens about being away for daughter Jean’s seventh birthday in two days; teaching a new dog to “let the cats alone” and how they’d love to visit but “it’s a long way, & even the dead can’t travel in such weather, without spoiling.” His paragraph about Jean is revealing:
July 25 Monday – In Elmira Sam wrote to his brother-in-law Charles Langdon for Livy, requesting $1,500 be remitted to Bissell & Co., Hartford bankers, with the check mailed to Franklin G. Whitmore. In the afternoon, Sam left for N.Y.C., and read the fourth volume of Metternich’s memoirs on the train in the evening (a ten-hour trip). He stayed at the St.
July 26 Tuesday – Jean Clemens’ seventh birthday. (See July 24 entry.)
In New York City at the St. James Hotel, Sam wrote to Livy:
Livy darling. I have finished up what I had to do here, & shall start to Hartford at 4.30. Charley [Webster] is a constant sufferer from his neuralgia, but has lately found a doctor who gives him several hours’ relief per day.
July 27 Wednesday – Sam’s telegram to Franklin G. Whitmore on July 23 about a meeting at his house “next Wednesday eve [this day]…” to “talk the thing all over have statics and other information ready,” suggests Sam’s research into the Paige typesetter and a meeting, at least informally, of stockholders.
Orion Clemens wrote to Sam; check for $155 received; he discussed his research and writing into English kings [MTP].
July 29 Friday – Livy wrote to her sister-in-law, Mollie Clemens that she and Susan L. Crane were reading Charles Kingsley’s His Letters and Memories of His Wife (1877); Sam’s notebook carries a July entry which suggests he was also was reading the book:
The Deity filled with humor. Kingsley. God’s laughter [MTNJ 2: 37; Gribben 372].
July 31 Sunday – In his Aug. 3 to Webster, referring to this day, Sam wrote of the “fun, which was abounding in the Yankee at Arthur’s Court up to three days ago,”. It is probable then, that upon returning to New York from Hartford sometime late in the week, that Sam got a fuller picture of the problems and negative forecast of Webster & Co. He may have returned to Elmira this day or the day before.
August – Sam’s notebook entries for this month carries a list of cryptic calculations for these books to be issued by Webster & Co. With columns of sales numbers and total projected sales as below (years of publication added here):
Reminiscences of Winfield Scott Hancock, by Almira Hancock (1887); 18,000
Tenting on the Plains; or, General Custer in Kansas and Texas, by Elizabeth Custer (1887); 25,000
August 1 Monday – Webster & Co. Sent Sam a small, handwritten accounting showing a “Cash Book” balance of $31,506.94 [MTP].
Check # Payee Amount [Notes]
3794 John O’Neil 60.00 Gardener
3795 Patrick McAleer 50.00 Coachman
3798 Telephone Co 15.95
3799 D.F. Healy 14.75 Laborer
August 2 Tuesday – The Brooklyn Eagle, page 2, under “PERSONAL MENTION”:
It is said that Mark Twain tries a new hotel every time he comes to New York. This gives greater freshness to his jokes.
August 3 Wednesday – By this date Sam had returned to Elmira, where he wrote Charles Webster, concluding “our outlook is disturbing,” with the combined income from the Pope’s book and McClellan’s book only paying expenses. They had lost the Grant letters book, and Beecher had died, changing his book from an autobiography to a biography by the family, even if they could come to terms.
August 4 Thursday – Pamela Moffett wrote to thank Sam “very much” for answering her letter and promising “help for Charley” (Webster), who was now in Far Rockaway, N.Y. recovering [MTP].
August 5 Friday – In Elmira Sam reported to Franklin G. Whitmore, “Have made splendid progress on my book this week.” This was a comment added below his signature on a letter containing aspects of the Paige machine, threats of lawsuit, bills sent, disputes about a $20,000 contract being fulfilled to Pratt & Whitney for work on the typesetter, and the like.
August 6 Saturday – Sam wrote to Charles R. Brown, letter not extant but referred to in Brown’s Sept. 2 [MTP].
August 8 Monday – Richard Watson Gilder of Century Magazine had written Sam (unlisted in MTP’s Incoming file). Sam responded:
Oh, I didn’t know what you meant by “the play.” But it has occurred to me that you mean that 3-act German-English farce, — & so you’ve cost me a day — & I couldn’t spare it, by George! I’ve gone over it & revised…[MTP].
August 9 Tuesday – Theodore Frelinghuysen Seward wrote to Sam, asking if he might have the “idiot” comment Sam made about Tonic-Sol method being a “rational mode” over the conventional (Staff method), “which was the invention of an idiot.” Sam wrote “NO. SLC” on the letter [MTP].
Franklin G. Whitmore (Whitney ca. Aug. 9 enclosed) wrote, “Your letter with the Pratt & W’s enclosures rec’d,” and that Paige was down sick under a doctor’s care [MTP]
August 10 Wednesday – Frederick J. Hall, responding to the obvious depression of Sam’s Aug. 3 letter, wrote encouraging news and a report on the state of the business. Since his return from the West, Charles Webster had been laid up, coming to the office intermittently. Hall reported that the outlook was good with no outstanding debts save profits of Sam’s, which he might elect to withdraw.
August 11 Thursday ca. – Sam responded to the issues brought by Pratt & Whitney Co. (see Aug. 5 to Whitmore);
August 12 Friday – In Elmira Sam wrote to Franklin G. Whitmore. Sam’s Hartford bank was “running low” and Sam was in a pinch — he couldn’t get funds from Charles Langdon, who had “just sailed for Europe” and so would have to borrow to pay a bill Whitmore sent. He asked that Whitmore send the Beech Creek railroad bonds. The motor that Paige was working on was “costing too much for the present circumstances,” and office expenses mounted. Sam asked,
August 13 Saturday – In Elmira Sam responded to Charles Hopkins Clark, who evidently had asked about the inclusion of some material for the Library of Humor. Sam answered that he would ask Webster, and in the meantime Clark might “rake together an uncopyrighted page or two from Warner & Howells” [MTP].
August 14 Sunday – In Elmira Sam wrote two letters to Franklin G. Whitmore. The first letter gave two paragraphs to the motor Paige was adding to the typesetter. The last dealt with the market, and a planned competition:
August 15 Monday – In Elmira Sam had received a report from Frederick J. Hall and Charles Webster on the business. Sam replied and thanked them for the information, which he thought clear. He made some conclusions: a book had to sell 30,000 to gain half profits, 20,000 one-third at ten percent royalties. At 15,000 sales it could stand a 7 ½ percent profit, and a book selling only 10,000 would not be profitable under any terms.
August 16 Tuesday – In Elmira Sam wrote to Charles Webster, closing with the thought that the General Hancock book “does indeed promise well.” Sam believed in giving “any respectable author permission to use extracts” of their books, even as much as a tenth of the entire book. He believed such extracts created good publicity and sales for the books.
August 17 Wednesday – In Elmira Sam wrote to Franklin G. Whitmore, questioning increasing office expenses for Paige’s office. He noted receipt of a statement from Webster & Co., and questioned whether his agreement with Webster required him to put in more cash at this point. If Whitmore was in doubt, would he ask Henry C. Robinson, attorney? The summer was coming to an end.
August 18 Thursday – In Elmira Sam wrote to Franklin G. Whitmore with miscellaneous business items and questions about Paige office expenses, the motor which had been built for the typesetter, drawings for Pratt & Whitney Co. (which then had six months to complete building the new typesetter) and with questions about payment to them. Sam’s spirits were up:
Land, but it is good to see daylight ahead at last! I feel cheerful again.