August 18 Saturday – Sam and Livy spent the evening with Mrs. Langdon in celebration of her 73rd birthday the next day [Aug. 19 letter to Olivia Lewis Langdon, MTP].
August 19 Sunday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Olivia Lewis Langdon on her birthday, thanking her for the hospitality of the previous evening and for her gift, the rauchen-geschirr (ashtray?) [MTP].
George E. Waring wrote, “Swear at me, if you will. I deserve it. But I can’t help it.” He had to be in Buffalo and couldn’t leave before the next night. He had wanted to visit him in Elmira [MTP].
August 22 Wednesday – Sam appeared as a witness, ironically for Captain C.C. Duncan, in his $100,000 libel suit against the New York Times [MTNJ 3: 25n41].
Sam wrote from Elmira to Howells. Clemens had just completed perhaps the most productive period of his writing career. With HF drafted and “1002d Arabian Night” completed, he wrote:
August 23 Thursday – From Sam’s notebook:
“I am told, Aug. 23, 9AM, that the Times lawyer proposed to Duncan that if he would let them off they would prove I said it all” [MTNJ 3: 24] Note: Evidently, the Times attempted to deflect blame to Sam. (See Aug. 22 entry.)
Sam’s article “Historical Peg Driving,” ran in Mastery—an Illustrated Weekly Magazine of Useful Pastimes for Young People, p. 248 [Budd’s list furnished by Thomas Tenney citing Baetzhold].
August 24 Friday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Charles Webster. Sam wanted Webster to “Pitch into Mills’s business & square it up.” He spoke highly of Mills, not identified further.
Sam also reported on Duncan’s lawsuits:
“I have a telegram from Bath, Maine,—the grand jury threw out the bill, to that editor’s vast comfort. Duncan went for a criminal indictment, in that case.”
August 27 Monday – Orion Clemens wrote a short note: “Just deposited William the Conqueror in the American Express Office Herr Bob Ogdon charged me 90 cents a page, and will allow me 30 cents a thousand for setting it up” [MTP].
August 28 Tuesday – Worden & Co. sent statement to July 31 and asked for $1,800 on margin call [MTP].
August 29 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Orion, complimenting on part of the board game he completed, probably the William the Conqueror segment Sam asked about in his Aug. 16 letter to Mollie Clemens.
“You can go on with other reigns, now, but you needn’t print any more till I tell you. Send the printing bill when you please” [MTP].
August 30 Thursday – William C. Hutchings wrote from Brooklyn, where he took his dying wife after doctors in Hartford recommended taking her home. He PS’d an enclosed clipping from the NY World, but it’s not in the file [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “The German Critic’s opinion”—may refer to the missing clipping contents.
William Swinton wrote from NYC, disappointed that since Sam’s reply was marked “Private” he couldn’t publish it, and asked again for a story [MTP].
August 31 Friday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Charles Webster, reporting that “Orion has done his work first rate” on the history board game. Sam diagrammed the game and detailed its layout, directing Charles and Annie to experiment with it [MTP].
September 1 Saturday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Andrew Chatto.
I’ve just finished writing a book; & modesty compels me to say it’s a rattling good one, too—“Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” (Tom Sawyer’s comrade.)
Osgood & I leave for Canada the 26th of November, arriving in Montreal the same evening, where I shall remain a couple of weeks, on copyright bent [MTP].
Sam also wrote to James R. Osgood.
Welcome home, & drink hearty! …
September 3 Monday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Charles Webster, directing him to “mail the enclosed to the Altmans—that large dry goods concern on Sixth ave…” Sam didn’t know the full name or address. [MTP].
Orion Clemens wrote, “delighted” Sam was pleased with his history game research, glad that Livy was better and that Mollie suffered “pain relentlessly” [MTP].
September 4 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Orion, enclosing a Aug. 29 request from Return I. Holcombe for information to compile a history of Marion County, Mo. The letter mentioned John Marshall Clemens’ jury service that sent “three Illinois abolitionists” to the penitentiary for twelve years for stealing slaves (see Sept.
September, a Thursday (6th, 13th, 20th or 27th) – Sam wrote from either Elmira or Hartford to Charles Webster.
The board is excellent, now.
——
September 8 Saturday – Joe Twichell wrote from Franconia, N.H., hoping Sam had cooled from his anger about Twichell publishing information about the history game. He described their vacation in N.H. [MTP].
September 9 Sunday – Sam wrote a one-liner from Elmira to Charles Webster: “Will see you at hotel Brunswick 9 or ½ past, a.m.., Wednesday. SLC” [MTP]. Note: Evidently things were delayed a day.
September 12 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Charles Webster:
“Dear Charley, We shall arrive, tired out, at hotel Brunswick 8.30 tomorrow evening.—Should like to see you five minutes that evening—not before 9, & not after 9.15. After which I will go to bed. Send up card & I will come down stairs. Yrs truly / S L C” [MTBus 219].
September 13 Thursday – The Clemens family’s summer stay in Elmira came to an end, as did the most productive season in Sam’s literary career. They traveled to Hartford by way of New York, stopping at the Brunswick Hotel on Fifth Avenue [MTBus 219; MTNJ 3: 27n46]. Sam’s notebook contains a list entitled “People to see in N.Y.” and includes Charles A.
September 14 or 15 Saturday – Given the number of people Sam needed to see in New York, the family may have stayed two nights in the city; or one, as was usual, before continuing to Hartford.