April 8 Sunday – Blanche W. Howard wrote from Stuttgart, Germany: “You have recently given my sister a glass of punch at some hospitable house in Washington. She was delighted, and wrote me at once with enthusiasm which I share.” [MTP].
April 7 Saturday – The Clemens family likely returned home to Hartford from New York, as trains were few and none on Sundays during this period. Sam must have answered Howell’s Apr. 5 letter, either this day or the next, based on Howells next letter of Apr. 9. In his response to the Apr. 5 letter, Sam informed Howells of seeing Lorettus S.
April 6 Friday – Sam, Livy, and perhaps Susy, went to New York and checked into the Murray Hill Hotel. At 8:15 they went to Daly’s Theatre and saw a performance of Midsummer Night’s Dream, starring Miss Ada Rehan, James Lewis, Miss Virginia Dreher, and John Drew. It was the next to last performance of the season for this play, the 78th. It opened on Jan.
April 5 Thursday – In Hartford Sam telegraphed Augustin Daly, asking,
Send 3 tickets to murray hill hotel for tomorrow night I will pay at the door [MTP]. Note: it’s conjectural who the third ticket was for, perhaps Susy.
April 3 Tuesday – Frederick J. Hall for Webster & Co. wrote to Sam having received his letter (date not given). “We will write to Mr. Chatto at once, and note what you say about the Beecher and Custer books.” They’d been holding back the latter so as not to interfere with Sam’s book [MTP].
Henry C. Robinson wrote a barely legible note to Sam: “Col. Greene thinks that his mis conduct is explained without involving him in any thing…” [MTP]. Note: the matter is obscure.
April 2 Monday – Webster & Co. wrote to Sam that they’d been notified by Gen. Sheridan that his book was now “all revised, and that he will send the manuscript…very shortly.” Maps included [MTP].
Edward B. Hooker wrote to Sam thanking him for efforts on behalf of his engraver friend, Mr. Bass, who had “secured a position in Boston, so that for the present at least he is not in want” [MTP].
April 1 Sunday – Sam allowed a line about Lorenz Reich’s wine from a Dec. 2, 1882 letter to be quoted in a New York Times article, p.5, “A HOTEL OF HOMES,” about The Cambridge Hotel, which was novel due to its “modern apartment” accommodations.
April – J.G. Rathbun & Co. Hartford Pharmacists billed $51.10 for goods from Jan-Mar; paid Apr. 4:
March 31 Saturday – In Hartford Sam wrote to William Dean Howells, enclosing his speech “Knights of Labor — The New Dynasty” which he’d given at the Monday Evening Club back on Mar. 22, 1886. This letter is evidently a response to one sent by Howells and now lost, which included “Anarchist” pamphlets, probably William M. Salter’s Cure for Anarchy, and possibly John C.
March 30 Friday – In Hartford Sam wrote to his nephew, Samuel Moffett in San Francisco. He had misread a letter from Moffett, thinking that Moffett was coming to find a job on a newspaper in New York. Sam thus wrote a paragraph and then crossed it out when he realized it was “McDowell” who was coming. Sam revealed his knowledge of several men who Moffett evidently had asked of: