October 27 Sunday – William Dean Howells wrote again, unable to come for the visit he’d planned.

I am awfully sorry to put myself off; but we are blistering under the curse of house-hunting, and till something is decided, we are mere shrieks of agony. May I ask myself on a little later?

The book is glorious — simply noble. What masses of virgin truth never touched in print before!

Would the book make it out by Dec. 20? He didn’t want to “make a fool of the Study” [MTHL 2: 617].

October 26 Saturday – Sam’s notebook carries an entry with this date that he offered his friend Henry C. Robinson royalties on the Paige typesetter at the same price he’d given Clara Spaulding Stanchfield [3: 524]. Note: Robinson, an attorney, was a Friday night billiards regular.

Robert Underwood Johnson for Century Magazine wrote to Sam :

October 25 Friday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Charles H. Taylor of the Boston Globe who had invited him to speak before the Boston Press Club in early November. Sam thanked him but wrote,

I shall without doubt be compelled to spend the first ten days of November in Washington [MTP].

Karl Gerhardt wrote a short note to Sam: “Enclosed please find quarterly receipts on policy no-333154-Equitable Life $5000-to date” [MTP].

October 24 Thursday – Treasurer for the National Park Bank of N.Y. wrote to Sam, acknowledging his check # 4432 for $20 for the Horace Greeley Statue Fund [MTP].

Douglas Taylor, General Mercantile Printer, N.Y. wrote to Sam: “Your welcome note-letter 21st p’m’k 23 just rec’d. / I’d be delighted to run up a day or two to Hartford.” Sam wrote on the envelope, “Interesting letter from Douglas Taylor, Inc. Typesetter & Co. / Oct 1889”  [MTP].

October 23 Wednesday – In Hartford Sam wrote a scolding apology to Henry Loomis Nelson (1846-1908) who had called on the Clemens home and been mistaken for a peddler. Loomis had been secretary of the American Copyright League and would later become editor of Harper’s Weekly. He was also an author and educator.

Great Scott, what a thoughtless man you are! Why the mischief didn’t you write on your card in the first place? …

October 22 Tuesday – William Dean Howells received Sam’s Oct. 21 and sent an answer that Elinor Howells was not well and not likely to be all winter. The two men shared the curse of puny spouses. However, Howells hoped to come alone.

October 21 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Susan L. Crane, assuring her that financial security was hers, with her securities and the royalties from the Paige machine. Sam was full of optimism. He even referred to her late husband:

I hope Theodore hovers about us & is still interested in our efforts & victories; in which case it has pleased him to hear the emissary of the greatest of newspapers order 33 machines & forget to ask what we are going to charge him for them [MTP].

October 19 Saturday – Karl Gerhardt wrote from Hartford to Sam:

Of course you shall have all the time you require in regard to the offer I made on OCTOBER 4th 1889; As a matter of form I will place the time at JUNE 1st 1889…I called on Saturday to see you but you were in N.Y…. [MTP]. Note: Gerhardt wanted Sam to influence the building of a factory for the manufacture of Paige typesetters on Gerhardt’s land. See Oct. 7 entry.

October 18 Friday – Susan L. Crane wrote to Sam, having received this evening five royalties on the Paige typesetter; it seemed “very tame” for her to simply say “thank you.” She continued to say it for six pages [MTP].

October 17 Thursday – In Cambridge, Mass., William Dean Howells wrote reporting on the proofs of CY, and telling Sam what he probably already knew:

This last batch, about the King’s and the Boss’s adventures, is all good; and it’s every kind of a delightful book. Passages in it do my whole soul good. — I suppose the Church will get after you; and I think it’s a pity that you don’t let us see how whenever Christ himself could get a chance, all possible good was done [MTHL 2: 614].