November 18 Thursday – Sam was receipted for $3 subscription to the New York Evening Post. The subscription was for the period Nov.16, 1880 to Nov. 16, 1881. It would be one of Sam’s favorite newspapers [Gribben 503].

Sam purchased a copy of Thomas Malory’s (15th Century) The Boy’s King Arthur from Brown & Gross, Hartford booksellers [448].

November 19 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Mary Mapes Dodge (1831-1905), editor of the children’s St. Nicholas Magazine, explaining that publishing Prince and the Pauper in her magazine would lose “30 or 40,000” sales. Sam added:

November 20 Saturday – In Hartford, Sam sent an autographed note to an unidentified person: “None genuine without this label on the bottle” [MTLE 5: 203].

Robert Rutledge receipted Sam $80 for lessons from Nov. 6 through Nov. 20; included with the Clemens girls were Julia and Susie Twichell [MTP]. Note: may have been violin and/or music lessons.

November 21 Sunday – Mollie Clemens wrote to Sam and Livy. Arguments over family spoons with Kate Lampton open the letter, then “No loving parents could have done more kindly or generously than you have done,” helping them financially, then more family nits. She enclosed a clipping poem from Walt Whitman for Livy, “My Picture Gallery” from The American:

November 22 Monday – Sam purchased a copy of Charles Carleton Coffin’s Old Times in the Colonies from Brown & Gross, Hartford booksellers. Sam paid $2.40 [Gribben 150].

Empire Dyeing and Cleaning Co. of N.Y. charged $1.90 to clean a shawl [MTP]. Note: This may have been left on Livy & Clara’s visit.

November 23 Tuesday – Sam drafted a humorous letter to the editor of the New York Evening Post. The letter, if sent, was not published. He wrote of his experience with obtaining a start from Shakespeare’s mulberry tree while in Stratford, England and planting it in Hartford. Sam had read of plans to plant mulberry “slips” (starts) in New York’s Central Park [MTLE 5: 204-6].

November 24 Wednesday – Sam purchased a copy of Isa Craig Knox’s (1831-1903) The Little Folks’ History of England from Brown & Gross, Hartford booksellers. Saloman & DeLeeuw, Hartford dealers in tobacco, billed Sam $2.33 for “2 & 5/12 doz corn cob pipes & 1&1/2 Biker. Durham tob[acco]”; paid [MTP].

November 26 Friday – Sam and Livy had heard from Martha Gray, who had promised to visit Dec. 9 or 10, with or without husband David Gray. Sam and Livy wrote from Hartford to Martha, delighted to anticipate a visit. Sam asked if they were “coming per Erie road, & I’ll go down to Jersey City & meet you” [MTLE 5: 207].

November 27 Saturday – Livy’s 35th birthday.

November 28 Sunday – Sam wrote a one-liner from Hartford to Fields, Osgood & Co., asking for “Uncle Remus’s Songs & Sayings” [MTLE 5: 212].

November 29 Monday – George Stronach, Hartford, billed Sam $15.42 for windows, sash, keys, drawer casters, misc. work in house. Samuel Collins, Hartford dealer “in all kinds of Flagging stone” billed $23.40 for “234 ft. of curb & gutter” [MTP].

November 30 Tuesday – Sam’s 45th birthday. He wrote a humorous note from Hartford to the editors of Childhood’s Appeal.

December – Sam wrote sometime during the month from Hartford to Jane Grey Swisshelm (1815-1884), well-known abolitionist, newspaper editor, lecturer, crusader, feminist, and Civil War nurse. Jane wrote Sam on Jan.

December 1 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Chatto & Windus, thanking them for checks amounting to $6,000 for sales of A Tramp Abroad. Sam wrote that he was surprised by the “largeness of sale in the United States,” which he said brought the total to $50,000 he would get out of the book for twelve-months sales, from Mar. 1, 1880 [MTLE 5: 218].

Bills/receipts/statements from Hartford merchants:

December 2 Thursday – Orion Clemens wrote from Keokuk to Sam.

December 3 Friday – The Jan. 1, 1881 bill from Atlantic & Pacific Telegraph Co. shows a telegram sent to New York (party unknown, see that entry for others).

December 4 Saturday – Bill paid to Connecticut Valley R.R. Co., Hartford $1.22 for transporting “2 cases liquor; 1 box” [MTP]. The December bill from Western Union shows a telegram sent to New York, recipient unspecified (see Dec. 31 entry).

December 6 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Henry Clay Lukens of the New York Press Club, declining another invitation. Sam wrote he was “booked for that day” [MTLE 5: 219].

Woolley’s Livery Stable bill of Jan. 2? Shows use of a hack this day for two and a quarter hours, $2.75 [MTP].

December 7 Tuesday – C.F. Cobb (“Squid”) wrote to Sam. “The undersigned took the liberty to send you three sketches: Row in a Row, Pulling the Classical Wire, and the hit at a very general musical nuisance.” Cobb described how his father had worked as a clerk for 60 years then died leaving him “a large estate” though Cobb didn’t change his style of living [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “From one who signs himself ‘Squid’ ”

December 8 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Mollie Clemens. He enclosed either a drawing or a model of a pig. “Fortunately the first attempt succeeded sufficiently well; I doubt if I could blind my eyes again & bring the ears on top of the head after traveling so far from the initial point.” Evidently, Mollie had written that Orion was spending an inordinate amount of time writing. Sam offered:

December 9 Thursday – Sam’s humorous note to Childhood’s Appeal ran in that publication [MTLE 5: 213]. (See Nov. 30 entry.)

Charles Perkins wrote to Sam about Bissell & Co. offering an attractive investment at a “very choice 7” percent for a loan of $5,000 [MTNJ 2: 379n68]. Sam bought in.

December 10 Friday – Sam’s sketch, “For Struggling Young Poets,” dated Nov. 17, 1880 ran in the Dec. 10 issue of the Buffalo Bazaar Bulletin [MTLE 5: 198-200]. It was reprinted in the Buffalo Express on Dec. 11 and in the Hartford Courant in an article titled, “Mark Twain’s Poem” on Dec. 13, p2. Excerpt:

December 11 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to his sister, Pamela Moffett, sending $25 for Christmas gifts for “Annie & her family.” Livy was “pretty thoroughly taxed” Sam wrote. “Jean is as fat as a watermelon, & just as sweet & good, & often just as wet” [MTLE 5: 224].

December 12 Sunday – Mollie and Orion Clemens wrote to Sam and Livy about memories of Susy and Jennie, and joy that baby Jean was flourishing [MTP].

December 13 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to James R. Osgood. Sam placed a small order for two books and added,

“I’ve accepted invitation for supper in N.Y. midnight, 20th —they said you & Howells & Aldrich would be there” [MTLE 5: 225].

Sam’s “Letter to the Bazaar Bulletin” for a charity event in Buffalo, was reprinted in the Hartford Courant [Camfield, bibliog.].