January 28 Thursday – In Hartford, Sam wrote to James Redpath:
Could you quietly jam this item into print somewhere without telling where you got the information?
“Mark Twain is writing a five-act drama, the scene of which is laid partly in San Francisco, & partly in the Nevada silver mines. The chief character in the piece is peculiarly American.”
I have a reason for wanting to set this item afloat [MTP, drop-in letters].
January 29 Friday – Sam wrote to William Dean Howells, the letter unrecovered but enclosure by Charles Warren Stoddard, “Lingering in Venice” survives and may be read at [MTL 6: 630-6].
February – The second of seven installments of “Old Times on the Mississippi ” appeared in the Atlantic Monthly.
February 1 Monday – In Hartford Sam replied to the Dec. 12, 1874 from Charles Warren Stoddard, a long letter from London about his travels and mutual friends. Stoddard wrote travel letters for the San Francisco Chronicle, and was in Rome the previous year.
February 3 Wednesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to P.T. Barnum, who Sam probably met in Feb. 1872. Barnum had asked Sam to “puff” his new Hippodrome, and although Sam thought it stupendous and that Barnum had remarkable “pluck,” he wrote that he couldn’t write the article at any price …
February 6 Saturday – Lewis Griswold wrote from Centerville, Mont. after reading RI:
February 7 Sunday – Twichell’s journal:
“M.T and I went down, by previous appointment, to Morgan St. Mission S.S. School and made a short talk apiece. Mark was very happy in his speech, and I was very happy to have him there” [Yale 54]. Note: the Mission was “Father” David Hawley’s headquarters. Bush claims Twichell and Twain often spoke there [130].
February 8 Monday – In Hartford, Sam telegraphed that he’d sent $1,000 to President DuRell of the Salt Lake City National Bank to furnish bonds in a legal action to stop unauthorized production of the Gilded Age play there [MTL 6: 373].
February 10 Wednesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Howells. Sam wrote that he’d sent the fifth article in the Atlantic series that day. He also urged Howells, who’d been meeting resistance from his wife, to “try hard, on the 15th, to say you will go to New Orleans.” Sam admitted not having much confidence in his insight as a literary critic, and Howells’ positive reviews of Stoddard’s articles for the Atlantic conflicted with Sam’s opinion.
February 12 Friday – In Hartford Sam replied to the Feb. 6 from to Hurd & Houghton Co. Sam didn’t see much money in the proposal of this publisher to bring forth a few good American novels “making them cheap, advertising them widely and securing thus popularity…” Houghton wished to make Sam the first author in the series [MTL 6: 379-80].
February 13? Saturday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Strother Nimrod Wiley (1815-1899), a famous pilot on the Mississippi during the 1850s. Wiley had read an excerpt from Sam’s Atlantic articles, reprinted in the St. Louis Times for Jan. 24, and recognized himself as “Mr. W——” in the second article. Wiley wrote to Sam who sent the letter on to Howells, and answered Wiley that he planned to be back in St.
February 14? Sunday – Sam wrote to Elinor (1837-1910) and William Dean Howells, thanking Elinor for sending family pictures. Sam liked the “good old human domestic spirit” that pervaded the photograph. Livy was in bed, commanded there by the family doctor, probably Cincinnatus A. Taft. Sam told of writing anecdotes about Strother Wiley (see Feb.
February 15 Monday – Sam gave his second presentation for the Hartford Monday Evening Club on “Universal Suffrage.” For a portion of the text see MTB p.541 [Monday Evening Club; Fatout, MT Speaking 651].
Maj. General John Gibbon (1827-1896) wrote from Ft. Shaw, Montana to praise GA as “amusing and interesting, but exceedingly instructive” [MTP].
Robert Watt wrote from Copenhagen, Denmark.
February 16 Tuesday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote with finality: “I can’t manage the trip [to New Orleans] this winter” [MTHL 1: 66].
February 18 Thursday – Phineas T. Barnum wrote to Sam, unsure if he’d answered Sam’s last letter. He sent a “queer batch of letters” [MTP].
February 19 Friday – From Hartford Sam answered P.T. Barnum’s letter of Feb. 18. Barnum had saved and forwarded batches of “queer letters,” unusual letters received from people seeking fame and fortune with the circus.
February 20 Saturday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Howells. Sam could not go to Boston; he’d “have to give up the river trip, too.” Howells had written that he could not take the long-planned New Orleans trip.
February 21 Sunday – Sam wrote to Joseph H. Sprague and Others, to accept a lecture in the name of “Father” David Hawley, with all benefits going to Hawley’s charity work [MTL 6: 392-3]. Twichell recorded in his journal that “he wrote the letter of response in my study, Sunday PM Feb 21st” [Yale, copy at MTP].
February 23 Tuesday – The Hartford Courant published Sam’s letter to Joseph H. Sprague and Others, “Bread for Father Hawley’s Flock” [MTL 6: 392-3].
February 24 Wednesday – Twichell performed a marriage ceremony for Yung Wing (1828-1912) of the Hartford Chinese Educational Mission and Miss Mary Kellogg.
February 25 Thursday – Clinton Rice, attorney wrote from Wash. DC. Illness in his family had prevented a call on Clemens during his last stop there. His object was to remind him of Sam’s request in 1870 to correspond with Orion about the price of the Tennessee Land.
February 26 Friday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Warren Choate & Co., that had asked to purchase the rights to the Jumping Frog story. Sam replied that he was “on the point of issuing it in book form through my publishers here, along with all my sketches complete” [MTL 6: 394].
Sam also wrote to William A. Seaver who had offered to report the results of Sam’s upcoming charity lecture.
February 27 Saturday – Dr. John Brown wrote from Edinburgh. Much of the two-sided note is written over and illegible but he thanked Sam & Livy for two letters, photo and offered the “Megalopolis” twenty five kisses [MTP].
February 28 Sunday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote Sam:
“Your giving up that river-trip has been such a blow to me that I have not been able to write until now. Mrs. Howells and I expect to appear at Hartford on Thursday, March 11, to afflict you briefly” [MTHL 1: 67].
February, late – John Gibbon wrote to Sam in late Feb., exact date missing, complimentary of the stage play of GA [MTP]. Note: General John Gibbon in Montana.
March – The 3rd of 7 installments of “Old Times on the Mississippi” ran in the Atlantic Monthly.