August 25 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Elisha Bliss:
Friend Bliss— [the usual way Sam addressed friendly business associates]
I am here, enjoying myself royally. Haven’t any desire to shorten my visit. I am getting acquainted with everybody. Shall be here nearly two weeks yet. My address will be printed on this envelope.
August 24 and 25 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to his mother, Jane Clemens and family about his plans to stay with the Langdon family:
“…a week or two…This is the pleasantest family I ever knew. I only have one trouble, & that is that they give too much thought & too much time & invention to the object of making my visit pass delightfully” [MTL 2: 243-4].
August 23 Sunday –– Sam’s fifth and last LETTER FROM MARK TWAIN, dated Aug.17 from New York City ran in the Chicago Republican and included: “ONE OR TWO CALIFORNIA ITEMS,” “A Railroad Mint – What the Legend Says,” “A GENUINE OLD SALT,” “PERSONAL,” and:
Hartford
August 22 Saturday – Sam arrived in Elmira the night before and now could see what a huge mansion the Langdons lived in. The Elmira Daily Advertiser announced Sam had achieved “great notoriety” and expressed hope he would lecture in the city; he did not until Nov. 23 [MTL 2: 243n1].
August 21 Friday – Sam left New York City by train for Elmira, New York to visit the Langdon family. In route, Sam telegraphed Charles Langdon. Sam took a train named the “Cannon Ball,” thinking it would be faster, but it turned out to be the 10 AM local, which would not have reached Elmira until midnight. Langdon traveled to Waverly, about fifteen miles from Elmira to meet Sam en route.
August 18–20 Thursday – Sam took a short trip to Poughkeepsie, New York, where he was an overnight guest at a summer outing in Sunny Brook, the country home of Moses S. Beach, then owner of the New York Sun. (See Aug.
August 18 Tuesday – Sam was in New York City, at least in the morning at the Everett House, and probably went to see Moses Beach in Brooklyn to look at his collection of photographs in order to select some for inclusion in Innocents Abroad. (See Aug. 25 to Bliss.)
August 17 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Mary Mason Fairbanks.
“It is very late—been writing a letter to Chicago Republican. Shall leave for New York tomorrow. Shall be there 3 to 5 days. Then shall spend a few days with the other cub in Elmira—& then both of us will go to Cleveland to see the old bear” [MTL 2: 241].
August 15 Saturday – In Hartford, Sam wrote to Frank Fuller. Sam had been offered a lecture in Pittsburgh for $100 in November. Fuller had become a part owner in a New York rubber goods business, which produced condoms and other items.
“Please forward one dozen Odorless Rubber Cundrums—I don’t mind them being odorless—I can supply the odor myself. I would like to have your picture on them” [MTL 2: 240].
August 4 Tuesday – Sam took the train to Hartford, Conn. to work with Bliss on publishing Innocents Abroad for the next two weeks [Sanborn 400; Powers, MT A Life 241]. Sam would spend two weeks discussing the book and tightening the manuscript.