December 3 Tuesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Sylvester Baxter of the Boston Herald, who evidently had asked for a piece from Sam for publication:

December 2 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote a short note to decline Richard Bowker’s Nov. 30 invitation. Bowker was in the forefront of the lobby for international copyright legislation, and his name is familiar today to anyone involved in publishing:

Blessed are the dead that died in the cause. I’ve really got to stay away, this time, & let the other boys conduct the slaughter [MTP].

December 1 Sunday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Daniel Whitford, letter not extant but referred to in Whitford’s Dec. 2 to Sam [MTP].

December – Kaplan writes of the new contract between Sam Clemens and James W. Paige:

November 30 Saturday – Sam’s 54th Birthday.

Sylvester Baxter for Boston Herald wrote to Sam about the article on the CY they were to run, and sorry Sam could not join them for the Nationalist Club’s anniversary. “Could we not announce you in our list of contributors to The Nationalist Magazine?” He also asked if Sam “could write us a bit of something…” On the envelope Sam wrote, “ 1, No. 2, yes” [MTP].

November 29 Friday – In Hartford Sam wrote to his old friend, Joe Goodman.

Things are getting into better and more flexible shape every day. Papers are now being drawn which will greatly simplify the raising of capital; I shall be in supreme command; it will not be necessary for the capitalist to arrive at terms with anybody but me. I don’t want to dicker with anybody but [Senator John] Jones. Try to see if you can’t be here by the 15th of January.

November 28 Thursday – Thanksgiving – Sam gave a reading for the YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association) in their reading room, Hartford. A summary and some text of the speech was printed in the Hartford Courant, November 29, 1889, p.1 “Thanksgiving Exercises”:

November 27 Wednesday – Livy’s 44th birthday.

Sam’s notebook: Nov. 27. S.E. Moffett, one [Paige royalty sent] [3: 569].

Frederick J. Hall wrote to Sam enclosing the weekly reports (not extant); the orders “continue to come in very well considering the horrible weather we are having.” Old books were selling well [MTP].

November 26 Tuesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Sylvester Baxter of the Boston Herald about sending illustrations for CY and sending sheets of the book to a Mr. Zuboff at Baxter’s request [MTP]. Note: The Herald’s review was not one of the first in Budd’s Contemporary Reviews.

November 25 Monday – Hunting & Howard wrote a short note to Sam:

Your favor received. We have the diamond stud referred to and will keep it in the safe subject to further orders from you. Very Truly Yours / Hunting & Howard [MTP]. Note: In the MTP file, a slip reads: “The ‘Howard’ of Hunting & Howard is Edward Tasker Howard, Clemens’s Sandwich Islands companion. See Roughing It notes by him or ET&S 3 notes by Bucci”