January 20 Wednesday – The Hartford Courant ran “The Typothete,” on pages 1-2, quoting Sam’s New York speech of Jan. 18 at Delmonico’s.
One of the festive events in New York city Monday evening was the yearly Delmonico dinner of the Typotheter. This peculiar and rather awe-inspiring word is alleged to be Greek and so signify being interpreted, gentlemen, who have accumulated wealth by hiring other gentlemen to stick type for them.
Sam wrote to J.W. Atterbury (1841?-1921), one of the town founders of Madison, Mo., and at this time a member of the state legislature who would go on to become a longtime banker in Madison. Atterbury had invited Sam to a celebration in Madison of the founding of the Hannibal to St. Joseph Railroad that Sam’s father helped to initiate in 1846 (see Wecter 110). Atterbury included information about John Marshall Clemens that Sam found “astonishing” — that he’d been a pioneering railroad man.
I knew he interested himself in Salt River navigation, but this railroad matter is entirely new to me. I recal the names of nearly all those commissioners: they salute my ear as out of a vanished world & a forgotten time.
Sam declined to attend, seeing travel as “an insuperable barrier.” Note: If Sam were ignorant of his father’s activity promoting the St. Joseph to Hannibal railroad (Sam was only ten), surely Orion knew of it. In his 1882 trip up the Mississippi, Sam noted the death of the steamboat traffic in favor of the railroads; this confession may explain why he didn’t see then the irony of his father’s efforts coming to fruition and eclipsing the river life he loved so much. See online:
www.rootsweb.com/~momonroe/madisonhistory.htm.
Sam also responded by mail to a now lost invitation by Harry Edwards (1830-1891), called in his obituary “the inestimable comedian,” and “never called Henry,” though Sam always did.
But dear me, you don’t mention any date, & my movements are desperately uncertain. I’d like it first rate, for I jump to the conclusion that reporters are not admitted — but — O, hang it I don’t suppose I could manage it; something always interferes with my purposes & desires in these busy days….But I thank you & Mr. Wallack….
Note: Lester Wallack (1820-1888), original name: John Johnstone Wallack, actor, playwright, and manager of the Wallack Theatre Co., the training stage of nearly every major American stage performer of the 19th century.
Sam also answered Courtlandt Palmer’s Jan. 17 letter to pin down a date for a speech. Palmer was a “wealthy New York lawyer and resident of Stonington, Connecticut” who wrote on June 21, 1885 asking Sam to speak at the Nineteenth Century Club during the winter on the subject of American Humor [MTNJ 3: 162n121]. See June 27, 1885 entry for Sam’s acceptance. This letter was Sam’s final abandonment of the idea.
I am not the man for it; I am not capable; I should botch it…I am going to keep in the safe background [MTP].
Sam again wrote a short note prodding James B. Pond; that Chamberlaine was “in earnest,” and needed a yes or no about getting Cable or someone else for the Concord, Mass. Gathering [MTP]. See Jan. 10 & 15 entries.
A new contract for the typesetter was negotiated during January and February, which dug Sam in deeper, and put a ceiling on his investment for the desired improvements at $30,000. However, no upper limit was given for his overall investment — a serious error that Franklin G. Whitmore cautioned against, warning that such a clause might bankrupt Sam. See Jan. 21 for an amendment.
From Sam’s notebook:
Meeting of Hamersley, Paige & Clemens in my billiard-room, Jan 20 ’86 pm. Paige says “Every expense connected with making the model machine cannot reach $30,000 — can’t possibly go over it.” This includes every possible cost of wages, drawings, building the machine, taking out all the patents, &c. [MTNJ 3:219].
Paine writes of Paige:
“Paige was a small, bright-eyed, alert, smartly dressed man, with a crystal-clear mind, but a dreamer and a visionary. Clemens says of him: ‘He is a poet; a most great and genuine poet, whose sublime creations are written in steel’” [MTB 904].
L.. Hoffman writes [334]: “During Howells’ visit, James Paige and William Hamersley interrupted Sam with an unscheduled meeting to discuss their new plan for the typesetter. The machine could have gone to market then and had the field to itself, since no other mechanical typesetter could match Paige’s invention for accuracy or speed. Paige, however, had ideas for improvements — a small motor and an automatic justifier — and he and Hamersley wanted Sam to underwrite this work in exchange for greater ownership of the machine.” Kaplan puts that “greater ownership at 50 per cent, and also pins the meeting to Jan. 20 [286]. Note: this meeting was a continuation of one, sometime between Jan. 13 and 17, during Howells’ visit (referred to in Howells’ Jan. 18 from Auburndale, Mass.) See MTHL 2: 551n3.