October 27 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to George Baker, the merchant who had sold Sam the music box in Geneva Switzerland. The wrong box arrived, damaged. He’d wanted the one shown to him that only used violin sounds and vox humana tones; what arrived had drums and bells and “tinklings.” The damage was slight and repairable. Sam “suffered a grievous disappointment” and asked to ship the box back and get the right one in return. Who would pay duties on the right box? [MTLE 4: 115-6].
Sam also wrote to Howells, agreeing to come to Belmont “a day or two before the 3d (if Mrs. Clemens will permit), & stay a day or two after it anyway.” Sam mentioned John Hay, General Hawley, and David Gray. He complimented Orion on a “readable book” he was writing about religion under an assumed name. He ended with “Warner says your new book is your best yet, according to Mrs. Howells’s judgment” [MTLE 4: 117]. Note: the “new book” was most likely The Lady of the Aroostook (1879).
Sam also wrote to Robert Howland in San Francisco, an old Carson City friend from his mining days, who had sent Sam pictures of his children. “They are the sweetest little rascals!” Sam wrote. Sam added they were planning to come to San Francisco “some time next year” [MTLE 4: 118]. But, of course, Sam never returned.
Sam also wrote (he often wrote dozens of letters at one sitting) to Albert J. Scott, a correspondent from an unnamed newspaper [Eppard 430] who evidently inquired as to Sam’s first publications. Sam answered that he “began to write for a local public in the fall of 1862—& for the general American public in 1865 or ‘66 (‘Jumping Frog’ &c).” He also listed, “3. I wrote the review of the poet Hammond’s works. An admirable singer” [!?] [MTLE 4: 119].
The review was an unsigned satirical treatment in the Contributors’ Club of the Atlantic Monthly for June 1877 of Rev. Edward Payson Hammond’s (1831-1910) Sketches of Palestine. Eppard calls this work “a curious mixture of piety and travel sketch cast into verse” [430]. Although Sam’s review was untitled in the text of the magazine, in the semi-annual index it was listed as “An Overrated Book” [431] Eppard cites Alan Gribben’s “review of the lame literary productions which attracted Mark Twain’s attention” Among these was Sketches of Palestine, “…apparently one of Clemens’s favorites, for, according to Gribben, his copy of the book bears prolific annotations…uniformly derisive” [431]. Eppard considers Sam’s “playful” review to be a parody of “the kind of critical essay which was regularly appearing in the Contributors’ Club” [433]. In the review the writer reveals he was a resident of Ponkapog, Mass., home of Thomas Bailey Aldrich. So, did Twain really write this? The writing style suggests not. See entries for June 6, 1877 and Jan. 12, 1883.)
Sam wrote checks drawn on George P. Bissell & Co, Bankers, Hartford, to Mr. James H. Breslin totaling $166.51 [MTP].
October 27–30 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Orion, with advice any good writer needs. Sam liked the manuscript his brother had sent about religion. He penciled thoughts and suggestions in the work and said:
And put the bread & butter idea clear out of your head. Write your treatise for the love of it, not for what it will bring. The bread & butter thought is simply fatal to literary work. Write with the idea that you are on a salary, that the salary is secure & that you need not bother about it; consider & remember that Livy & I never bother about it, Perkins don’t bother about it, nobody bothers about it. Therefore why should you? [MTLE 4: 120].
Sam added that he would be at the Grant banquet & festivities in Chicago on Nov. 12 and 13, and “would run over to Keokuk but shall have to rush home immediately” to finish proof-reading A Tramp Abroad [120].