July 15 Sunday – In Elmira Sam wrote to Andrew Chatto about bills sent to Chatto and to Dawson & Brothers in Montreal, which Webster & Co. sent (See July 15 to Webster & Co.) Next up was General Phil Sheridan’s book.
I don’t think they’ll send you or Dawson those bills any more; but if they should please forward them to me again. These stupidities make a body long for blood.
Next, we shall be applying to you & Dawson to help us through on Canadian copyright for General Sheridan’s book…. I thought likely you would take Tauchnitz’s offer; & I hoped you would [MTP].
Sam then wrote to Webster & Co. about the bills and other matters. He was most concerned with Sheridan’s book, and thought losing Canadian copyright would cost the firm $30,000 or more. He was glad to receive Arthur Wright’s letter and report and noted the low bank balances, agreeing with the suggestion to borrow if needed. Sam recommended they tell General Miles they were full, that if they couldn’t sell the Custer book, they couldn’t “sell any smaller reputation’s book,” though he would “yield” if they thought otherwise. Sam felt particularly strong about Scribner’s & Sons persistence in asking for “Winchester,” an excerpt from Sheridan’s book.
Their persistence about Winchester is not pleasant; it is about as cheeky as it would be if we were girls and had promised them something — supposing they meant kisses — and they come and try to collect our maidenheads [MTLTP 247-8].
Sam also wrote a two-liner to Rev. John J. McCook (1843-1927) in Niantic Conn. at the time, but from a longtime Hartford family on Main Street. After graduating from Trinity College in Hartford in 1863, McCook was a chaplain in the Union army, a member of the “Fighting McCooks” from Ohio who had fifteen members fight in the Union cause. After the war he became a lawyer and theologian.
That paper is delicious. I do not often find literature that will bear reading twice, but this does [MTP].
Note: This on McCook and family from the Hog River Journal’s website:
“The McCooks led an active, cosmopolitan life. The Reverend John James McCook (as he became) served for 60 years as volunteer rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in East Hartford. He was a member of the Trinity College faculty and was outspoken in public affairs. His indignation over inefficiency in caring for the homeless led to years of work studying the problem and photographing the indigent, an achievement now regarded as seminal in the field. The family, especially John McCook, traveled widely, including a Europe tour in 1874. Many years later, during a nine-month trip around the world (1907-1908) in the company of one of his daughters, John acquired the notable collection of Japanese armor. The McCooks also collected important paintings by artists such as William R. Wheeler and Albert Bierstadt.”
[http://www.hogriver.org/issues/v01n02/butler_mccook.htm ].
Given McCook’s outspokenness and crusade for the indigent, it’s likely the “delicious” paper took aim at government or officials in some way. Sam naturally related to such jousting.
The Brooklyn Eagle, p.7 noted:
Mark Twain has forced his way by his wit into the ancient literary degree of Master of Arts, which Yale College has recently conferred upon him.
On the back of a blank invoice from Clearfield Bituminous Coal Co., Elmira a handwritten statement of “Int of Platt notes on 5000$ = 72.40 / on 1192.49$ 29.81 total 102.21 ck dated July 15, 1888” [MTP].