January 13 Wednesday – In Hartford Sam responded to a plan sent by Charles Webster, probably on Jan. 9, about paying dividends, notes, and the funds due Mrs. Grant, or 70% of the royalties for Grant’s Memoirs. Sam felt Webster’s plan as he understood it amounted to borrowing to pay dividends; that it would be best to pay off the notes first and reserve 30% of what was left in cash, paying the balance to Mrs. Grant [MTP].
In the evening, sometime after 7, a third production of the children’s play, The Prince and the Pauper was given at the Clemens’ Hartford residence for William Dean Howells (who arrived late due to “broken down trains” [MTHL 2: 550n1]) and a multitude of Hartford friends. This was one of several plays the children put on, the first being the surprise for Sam at the Warner’s on his Christmas break from the “Twins of Genius” tour on Dec. 19, 1884. An encore show was given on Apr. 22, 1885. See entries. Note: In Sam’s Dec. 10-13(?) letter to Webster, he’d asked for eight copies of “acting Macbeths — pamphlets.” The family had considered putting on Hamlet, but changed this to Macbeth, then to another production of P&P [MTNJ 3: 206n73]. Susy listed the parts played:
- Pauper Margaret [“Daisy”] Warner
- Prince Susy Clemens
- Princess Elizabeth H[armony] Twichell
- Lady Jane Grey Clara Clemens
- Miles Hendon Mr. S. L. Clemens
- Lord Hertford Fanny Freese
- St. John Susie Twichell
- Archbishop Mr. G. H. Warner
- Page and crown bearer Burton T[wichell]
- Guard Mr. A. W. Foote
- Court Gentleman David Twichell
The Coronation March was played…the third time by Mrs. C.D. Warner [Salsbury 216-7].
Clarence C. Buel for Century Magazine wrote, enclosing a printed advertisement for the Universal Tinker Co., which inspected homes weekly for a fee, saving “time lost in chasing Plumbers, Painters, Gas Fitters, etc.” The flyer contained a poem; in the margin Sam wrote, “From my article signed XYZ in ‘Century’ for Dec. 1885” Buel wrote, “Have you invented a new profession, writer & our Universal Tinker, that has been wanted since the garden of Eden got rusty and hard to open [?]” [MTP].
Francis Wayland, dean of Yale Law School, wrote thanking Sam for a $75 check given for Negro student Warner T. McGuinn [MTP].