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].

September 7-11 Monday – In either New York or Hartford sometime during this period, Sam wrote a short note to Bret Harte, after taking in Harte’s play, Two Men of Sandy Bar at the Union Square Theatre in New York. Harte had sold the play to actor Stuart Robson for $3,000 plus $50 for each performance during its first season, a price Harte came to regret [MTPO].

September 8 Friday – The Clemenses were still in New York.

September 9 Saturday – NYC temperatures ranged from 72-61 degrees F. with no rain [NOAA.gov].

September 10 Sunday – The Clemenses were still in New York. Sam’s notes in Hyppolyte Taine’s The Ancient Regime (1876) state that he finished reading the book on this day, a second reading during the year [Slotta 32]. This was a major sourcebook for both P&P and CY (See also Jan. 29 entry).

NYC temperatures ranged from 66-77 degrees F. with no rain [NOAA.gov].

September 11 Monday – The Clemens family returned home to Hartford [Sept 14 to Fairbanks]. The train trip from Elmira to Hartford took ten hours, and always exhausted Livy. On this trip Sam first hired a sleeping car, which gave the family privacy and lessened the stress for Livy.

September 12 Tuesday – Paid, a Sept. 1 bill for a hack used Apr. 26 from E.C. Wheaton, livery, $3 [MTP].

September 14 Thursday – Sam wrote a note from Hartford to Elisha Bliss reminding him to put a dedication to Livy in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer [MTLE 1: 109].

September 15 Friday – William A. Seaver wrote from NYC.

September 16 Saturday – Sam declined another invitation, the Sept. 15 from William A. Seaver, who wrote the “Editor’s Drawer” and the “Personal” column for Harper’s. Seaver was “one of the New York boys.”

“My Dear Boy, I can’t. You know me; you know I travel with none but the salt of the earth—never with old salts of the sea, like you. Besides, these parties drink, whom you mention. Therefore there might not be enough for me” [MTLE 1: 115].

September 20 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Charles Warren Stoddard, his personal secretary on the first trip to England. Stoddard had written to ask if Sam or his publisher could publish a book of his. Sam advised Stoddard to write to him or Howells and say he wanted a consulship somewhere. Sam reasoned that Hayes would win the election, and since Mrs.

September 21 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Howells, promoting Charles Warren Stoddard for a consulship, something Sam expressed was the only thing the man was good for. Sam knew that Hayes would win because of Orion’s “desertion” of the Republican Party. Orion’s choice made:

September 22 Friday – In Pepperell, Mass., Howells wrote, agreeing to Sam’s idea of promoting Stoddard, adding, “C.W.S. shall be inspector of consulates. He’s in too good repair for a resident consul. Epilepsy or softening of the brain is requisite: a game arm will not do.” (Stoddard had badly broken his arm falling from a horse in Feb. 1875.) Howells wrote he had a “long letter to write you from Cambridge” [MTHL 1: 155].

September 24 Sunday – Gertrude Kellogg wrote to thank Sam for his help “in speaking a good word for me to the Bureau people in Boston, as I have heard you did” [MTPO]. Notes from source: Kellogg had won critical praise in 1874 as Laura Hawkins in the original New York production of Clemens’s Gilded Age play, Colonel Sellers and was returning to the stage.

September 25 Monday – Henry W. Shaw (Josh Billings) wrote a note from NYC. He advised sending Sam one of his books: Josh Billings: His Works, Complete. If Sam should “be seized with a longing to say something tender” then Shaw would be very much pleased. In the book he wrote this inscription:

September 27 Wednesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to John and Alice Hooker Day that he and Livy would be happy to see them on “Friday evening from 7 till 11” [MTLE 1: 119]. Note: Sam & Livy had attended the 1869 Hooker-Day wedding in New York. This note from MTPO:

September 29 Friday – In the evening, Sam and Livy entertained Hartford friends in their “big, long talked of party,” that “went off well.” (See Sept. 27 entry.)

Peter Henderson, Seedsman and Florist, New York City receipted $2.50 [MTP].

September 30 Saturday – Following a noisy torchlight parade with a band and Civil War veteran marchers, Sam gave his first political speech. He spoke for Rutherford B. Hayes at Allyn Hall in Hartford. Though the city was Republican, there was some mud-slinging by supporters of Tilden.

October – The German edition of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was published in Leipzig by F.W. Grunow [Norton, Writing The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 90].

October 2 Monday – The Hartford Evening Post ran Sam’s speech of Sept. 30 on page two, “Just Before the Battle.”

October 4 Wednesday – In Hartford Sam responded with a short note to William Seaver’s request for a miscellaneous article, probably for Harper’s. Sam wrote, “I can’t, old man—am too busy” [MTLE 1: 122]. Sam began collaborating with Bret Harte for a stage play, Ah Sin [MTLE 1: 124].

October 5 Thursday – In Hartford Sam wrote a short letter to his attorney, Charles E. Perkins, enclosing a piece of plagiarism that was:

“…made up of paragraphs taken bodily from my various books, & idiotically strung together upon the thin thread of a silly love tale.” Should Sam go to the expense of an injunction? [MTLE 1: 123].

October 7 Saturday – Bill paid to Paul Thompson for straw, etc. delivered Sept. 30. $14.60 [MTP].

October 8 Sunday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote to Sam. He liked the idea of the “blind novelettes,” (see Oct. 12 entry) and his owners were “crazy over it,” though he saw difficulties in persuading people to write them. He confessed the failure of the bio he’d done on Hayes, and “bills continue to come in with unabated fierceness.” He also praised Sam’s Sept.

October 10 Tuesday – Sam completed the plot for his contribution to Ah Sin, a collaboration with Bret Harte for a stage play [MTLE 1: 124].