August 23 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Howells, who had encouraged Sam to speak or write in support of Hayes in the coming election. Sam realized he’d have to do it in a:

August 25 Friday – Will Bowen wrote to Sam. In part:

Dear Sam / It has been a long time since I have heard from you, and I believe mine, was the last letter, but that is a small matter, since in these seriously dull times, the ordinary, little matters do not get their customary attention. When I wrote you last, the old world was wheeling along very smoothly with me, and my business prospects were very flattering, but I regret to confess that such is not now, the case.

….

August 26 Saturday – The following ran in the New York Herald:

“History has tried hard to teach us that we can’t have good government under politicians. Now, to go and stick one at the very head of the government couldn’t be wise.”

August 28 Monday – Bret Harte’s play, Two Men of Sandy Bar, premiered at the Union Square Theatre in New York. The character of Hop Sing, a California Chinaman, played by Charles T. Parsloe, was used as the centerpiece of Sam and Bret’s Ah Sin [Walker, Phillip 187].

August 31 Thursday – Sam replied from Elmira to the Aug. 25 from his childhood friend and fellow pilot, Will Bowen. Sam had just read a letter of sentiment tinged with self-pity from his old friend, and let Will have it with a “humble 15-cent dose of salts,” comparing Will’s pie-in-the-sky dreams with those of his brother Orion’s:

September – Sometime during the month, Sam set aside the manuscript he called “Huck Finn’s Autobiography” after completing about one third of the story. He received so many inquiries about a sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, that he had a response form letter printed [MTLE 2: .iv]. Note: He would not complete HF until 1883.

September 1 Friday – Sam wrote from Elmira to his niece, Annie Moffett Webster. Sam explained why he could not visit Buffalo, and that they would soon be traveling to Hartford and New York, putting off their planned trip to Fredonia. He recommended a gas stove over a coal for his mother, then added that Livy was “utterly & bitterly opposed to the gas stove.

September 2 Saturday – Sherrard Clemens (1820-1880) wrote to Sam, clippings enclosed.

September 4 Monday – Helen M. Chapin wrote to Sam: “You have made me very happy by enjoying my small joke” [MTP]. Note: see Aug 10, 28 from Helen.

September 5 Tuesday – The Clemens family left Quarry Farm for Hartford by way of New York City [The Twainian, Nov-Dec. 1956 p.3, June 2, 1911 letter from Susan Crane to Paine].