February 15 Tuesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to John W. Chapman. In his letter of Feb. 12, Sam asked Chapman to tell him what he knew about Jesse Leathers. Chapman answered on Feb. 14.
I thank you very much for your letter; it quite disposes of my doubts. I see that I was right in surmising that such a man could not be set upon his feet and made useful to himself and the world. I had some troublesome misgivings that possibly this judgement was too hasty and sweeping….I did not want to write a biography of him; I merely wanted to make a magazine sketch of his life, his general career to be merely touched upon and made the landscape out of which should rise into the clouds the monumental dream of his life…his generation-long struggle to “get his own” and seat himself in the British House of Lords as the “rightful” Earl of Durham! [MTP].
Sam also wrote a short note to Andrew Chatto, about the opening chapter he’d sent previously, probably of CY. He’d go to work on it next summer and then submit it first to Chatto among all foreign publishers.
Sam also wrote a longer letter to William Dean Howells, answering his letters of Feb. 13 and 14. Sam wrote of Webster telling him that he proposed to publish the Library of Humor in a year or a year and a half, but Sam wrote Webster (see below in this entry) of Howells’ offer to buy the rights to the book and arrange its publication under his own name. Sam also recalled being swindled in the brass-casting scheme by the use of arson just when demonstrations were to be given. As for the boy’s composition on “Girls,” he wrote:
No, I believe the boy’s composition to be genuine. I have only a woman’s word for it [Caroline Le Row], but most of the facts of life rest only on some one’s word — including the facts of the Scriptures, & the Arabian Nights & all that kind of book.
The Slip you sent me from the May Study has delighted Mrs. Clemens & me to the marrow. To think that thing might be possible to many; but to be brave enough to say it is possible to you only, I certainly believe. The longer I live, the clearer I perceive how unmatchable, how unapproachable a compliment one pays when he says of a man “he has the courage (to utter) his convictions.” — Haven’t you had reviewers talk Alps to you, & then print potato hills? [MTHL 2: 586]. Sam added a P.S. that they shouldn’t use Leathers’ name, due to his leaving three daughters behind.
Sam also wrote to Charles Webster about Howells’ offer to publish the Library of Humor.
I do not quite like the idea, unless I am otherwise running the risk of letting the book get too old before publication. I have a mind to tell him I can answer him better a year or two hence. How does that strike you?
Webster’s Feb. 14 letter had just arrived, and had to do with the proposed Henry Ward Beecher book.
If he writes the book in that way, & leaves in just enough piousness, it will sell (hoping it may be 2 volumes), 200,000 of vol 1, & 125,000 of vol 2: profit $350,000. If but one volume, it will sell 275,000 [MTP].
Sam also had Franklin G. Whitmore write for him to J.F. Swords, that he’d received his letter of Feb. 14 but no, he did not wish to have his name on the subscription list for the new Hartford Amusement Association, nor did he authorize anyone to do so [MTP].
Sam also wrote to Dora Wheeler about mixed up dates for a visit and a sitting. Would she send a new batch of dates right away? [MTP].
Orion Clemens finished his Feb. 14 letter. Ma Clemens was upset about Pamela “saying Ma ought to send a bridal present worth $25 or $50 to Sam [Moffett], and that Annie said so too.” Orion didn’t like to take that much from his mother’s funds. “She is now writing a letter to Pamela that will lift her hair” [MTP].
Charles A. Jewell, president of the Hartford YMCA wrote asking Sam to “look into our rooms & gymnasium & see what we have there & are doing for young men. If you feel inclined to help us out on our finances, I should be much pleased” [MTP].
Caroline B. Le Row wrote that her publisher would be “perfectly satisfied with a report of your speech of Feb. 10th” in addition to her book, not as part of it. She offered two more student funnies since going to press:
“Lord Byron was the son of a profligate and a lioness.”
“Macbeth was greatly terrified at seeing the ghost of Bancroft”
(The textbook does say that Lord B’s mother had “the temper of a lioness.”) [MTP].
Joe Twichell wrote from Hartford to Sam about Sam Jones, “a very live brother and preacher” who “delightfully mixes wit and sense in this extract enclosed” [lost]. Joe also decried the attempt to sully William Tecumseh Sherman’s reputation by the dredging up of “his provisional arrangement with Johnston way back in 1864” [MTP]. Note: it was unusual for Joe to write Sam while both were in Hartford, so it may be that Joe was leaving town.
Check # Payee Amount [ Notes]
3596 The Authors Club 10.00 N.Y.
3597 H.L. Hoyt 99.04
3598 Baltimore & Ohio Tel Co 0.30
3599 Mrs Wm L Matson 2.00