January 2 Saturday – In Redding, Conn. Sam wrote a postcard to daughter Jean. “Happy New Year, Jean dear! And I hope you will have many more. / Affectionately” … [MTP].
Sam also wrote a postcard with a photograph of Stormfield to Dorothy Quick. Happy New Year! Jan. 2’09
It is a very nice poem, Dorothy dear; that is my opinion, & Miss Lyon’s, too.
January 1 Friday – In Redding, Conn., Isabel V. Lyon replied for Sam to the Dec. 28, 1908 from Clara Frazer in Withers Mill, Mo.
Dear Miss Frazer: / Mr. Clemens asks me to write for him & say certainly you may have that photograph copyrighted, & then used on post cards.
It is such a pretty little photograph that when the cards are printed, Mr Clemens hopes to have some of them.
January –Samuel Wyatt wrote from Berks, England to offer three pages of verse after reading JA [MTP].
“Is Shakespeare Dead?”– Stormfield $1 Tax – Clara vs. Isabel - Lyon Breaks Down – Clara’s Affair – Carnegie Dinner – Ashcroft Weds Lyon - “Lobster Pot” Boils – H.H.’s Railway – Who Fired Horace? – Lyon Sacked - St. Timothy’s – Ashcroft-Lyon MS – H.H. Rogers Dies – Lost Footnote - Twain Sues Mrs. Ashcroft – “Tobacco” Heart – Amicable Settlement - Ossip Weds Clara – Jean Comes Home – Bermuda with Paine - “Jean is a surprise & a wonder” – Jean dies: “I always envy the dead”
August 12 Thursday – The first date showing Sam living in Buffalo. Sam replied from Buffalo to Elisha Bliss’ of July 30.
August 11 Wednesday – Sam was in Elmira and first saw the published book, Innocents Abroad. He
signed a gilt-edge copy for Livy [MTL 3: 291-2].
The Buffalo Period
August 8 Sunday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Livy, apologizing for hurting her and finishing the letter at 9 PM. During this period, Sam was shuttling between Elmira and Buffalo, scrutinizing the books and balance sheets of the Express. Sam wrote “my obligations to him [Jervis] almost overshadow my obligations to Charley, now…” Jervis Langdon had advanced half of the purchase price for the Express and guaranteed the balance [MTL 3: 289-91]. Following this letter, ten letters (Livy’s numbers 91-100), probably daily from Aug. 9 to 18, are lost [MTL 3: 290n1].
August 7 Saturday – Sam accompanied the Langdon family on a return trip to Elmira. By Sunday AM he was back in Buffalo [Reigstad 62].
The San Francisco Evening Bulletin, p.1, ran a positive review of IA, observing that “America has, within the past few years, developed a new type of humor.”
August 6 Friday – The last day of the business/pleasure trip to Niagara Falls.
August 5 Thursday – At Niagara Falls, NY. Sometime during the 3 day stay Jervis Langdon and Sam made a side trip to Buffalo, where Jervis likely visited the branch of his coal company at 221 Main Street, as well as a waterfront coal-yard operation. The pair also searched records in the Buffalo Express office to “confirm the soundness of their upcoming investment.” A few days later (Aug. 14), Twain complained about ‘the bore of wading through the books & getting up balance sheets’” [Reigstad 60-61]. Note: the Aug. 14 letter was to Mary Mason and Abel W. Fairbanks: “As soon as Mr.