November 3 Tuesday – Sam was back in Hartford, and wrote to the editor of the Hartford Evening Post, H.T. Sperry. The paper had printed an article “The Drama of the Gilded Age,” which Sam wrote was an erroneous history of the play. Sam corrected the record and the suggestion that he had misused Gilbert Densmore [MTL 6: 267-73].
November 2 Monday – On the “Taxable List of Samuel Clemens of Hartford for 1874” signed by Sam, he wrote the value of his Farmington Avenue home at $30,000; 1 horse $150; 1 cow $100; Coaches, Carriages & wagons $250; Clocks, Watches, Time Pieces, Jewelry $1,200; Piano Fortes $200; Household Furniture $1,500; Libraries exceeding $50, $100. He declared 200 shares of Hartford Accident Ins. Co. stock at $10,000; Bonds $9,000; Money at interest $30,000; Money on hand $2,000 and lastly:
November 1 Sunday – On this day or the day before, Sam went to New York and took rooms at the New York Hotel. His business in the city is unknown [MTL 6: 266n2].
November – Sam reached a literary peak of sorts, when his article, “A True Story – Repeated Word for Word as I Heard It,” appeared in the “high brow” Atlantic Monthly. Sue Crane’s Negro cook—Auntie Cord—told Sam her experiences as a slave. After repeating the story to John Hay, William Seaver, and perhaps others, Sam had been encouraged to write and submit it [Wilson 267].
October 31 Saturday – Twichell pasted a New York Times article in his diary that mentioned his trip to Peru and his upcoming lecture on the topic, as well as Sam’s lecture “last winter” which raised money for the poor (Father David Hawley) [Yale, copy at MTP].
Owen S. McKinney wrote from Palatine, W. Va. to thank Sam. In part:
October 30 Friday – Sam began work on the first article, which became “Old Times on the Mississippi” [MTL 6: 256 to Howells].
October 29 Thursday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Augustin Daly, who tried to enlist Sam in writing a play. Sam dumped it off onto William Dean Howells, who was thinking of dramatizing his current novel, A Foregone Conclusion [MTL 6: 263].
October 27 Tuesday – In the evening, Sam and Twichell took a long walk [Twichell journals, Yale].
October 26 Monday – The New York Daily Graphic ran this cartoon of Mark Twain: see insert.
October 24 Saturday – In Hartford Sam wrote two letters to William Dean Howells. The men were developing a playful and intimate association through letters and mutual admiration. In the first letter Sam repeated that he’d hoped to write something for Howells’ January edition of the Atlantic, (as requested in Howells’ Sept.