February 22 Saturday – † On or just after this day Sam sent the Feb. 21 Webster & Co. inquiry about Lounsbury to Twichell: Dear Joe:/ ? / Ys Ever/ Mark./ ~ [MTP].
The Critic reviewed CY:
We do not at all approve of Mark’s performance; it is very naughty indeed: but — and that is all he and his publishers want — we cannot help laughing at it [Tenney 18].
February 21 Friday – Webster & Co. typed a letter to Sam asking, since he knew Joseph Twichell, could he ask what regiment Yale professor Thomas R. Lounsbury was in during the Civil War, and what occupation he held between the war and his time at Yale. They explained that Lounsbury “always declines to give any information about himself,” and that they needed this for volume eleven of The Library of American Literature [MTP].
February 20 Thursday – Orion Clemens finished his Feb. 19 letter to Sam:
Ma coughed nearly all night. Miss Craig soothed her to sleep three times — her longest nap was about an hour. To-day she is not coughing much, her appetite seems to have returned, and she is now (3:15 pm), up, dressed in her velvet, looking natural, and walking around in her room. It looks now as if she will get well [MTP].
Adolfo Ramasso wrote from Rome asking to translate ten of Sam’s sketches into Italian [MTP].
February 19 Wednesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Abby Sage Richardson, explaining why he was not able to see her the previous Thursday as he’d told Daniel Frohman that Wednesday. Before the N.Y. trip, Richardson had sent them a breakfast invitation. They’d been unable to attend and they wished to thank her for it; Sam wished to exert his rights to emend the P&P play, and to remind her of the contract.
February 18 Tuesday – Sam and Livy returned to Hartford as planned [Feb. 16 to Crane; Feb. 19 to Richardson].
W. Norris wrote from Civil Prison, Singapore to Sam; a fellow prisoner gave him IA which he read. “I have resolved to send you this letter, and to beg of you to get me out of this prison….I am now short $20,000…” Sam wrote on the envelope, “Wants a loan 20,000”[MTP].
February 17 Monday – In New York Sam wrote to Stilson Hutchins about sick Livy and his nursing her in New York. [MTP, paraphrased 1912 Anderson Galleries catalog, Item 222]. Sam also wrote a similar letter to an unidentified person [MTP].
Franklin G.Whitmore wrote to Sam: “Your check for $545 being the amt. Of 2nd dividend of the St Paul Roller Mill Co of ten per cent to Mr. Saml L Clemens is received” [MTP].
February 16 Sunday – In New York Sam wrote to Susan Crane:
February 15 Saturday – Sam and Livy were still at the Murray Hill Hotel in New York, waiting for Livy to recover.
Franklin G. Whitmore wrote from Hartford to Sam, advising on the status of the typesetter. He’d expected to see Sam on Friday so hadn’t written before. “Mr. Goodman is still at your home & expects to see you tomorrow evening.” He was sorry about Livy’s illness in N.Y. and trusted that she would “entirely recover” [MTP].
February 14 Friday – Sam and Livy were still in New York, waiting for Livy to recover.
James H. West, publisher of The New Ideal (“Social Science and a Rational Religion”) sent a printed notification that Sam’s subscription expired with the number for Dec. 1889 [MTP].
February 13 Thursday – Sam and Livy intended to return home this day but Livy “got hit with tonsillitis” and was under the care of Dr. Rice (see Feb. 16 to Crane; also MTNJ 3: 539n175).
A. W. Lang wrote from Hartford to ask Sam to buy shares in a local baseball publication. Whitmore wrote on the letter: “Answered Feb. 18th – Don’t care to subscribe. FGW for SLC” [MTP].
Robert Donald for London Star wrote to Sam: