April 13 Friday – In Hartford Sam responded to Lorettus S. Metcalf, editor of Forum Magazine.
When I left you I found that Mrs. Clemens’s attack was diptheria — & that she was perilously ill. That stopped the Arnold-article on the spot, of course…. This afternoon one of the children has gone to bed ailing. These are not good times in which to write magazine articles [MTP].
April 12 Thursday – In Hartford Sam wrote to his sister-in-law, Susan L. Crane that she would be “so welcome!” Livy was ailing again with a bad throat and head; Sam too had “a most infernal cold in the head” [MTP].
April 11 Wednesday – Sam wrote to A.C. Armstrong for the New Princeton Review withdrawing from the forgotten promise to write an article [MTNJ 3: 343n134].
Susan L. Crane wrote concerned about Livy’s health and wanting to come take care of her [MTP].
M.P. Handy wrote to Sam (Pierce College of Business, Phila. To Handy Apr. 6 enclosed) seeking his speech at the school’s commencement [MTP].
April 10 Tuesday – Lorettus S. Metcalf telegraphed Sam with news of Matthew Arnold’s “Civilization in the United States,” originally published in London’s Nineteenth Century for April:
April 9 Monday – Still in New York, William Dean Howells wrote to Sam.
My Dear Clemens —
Don’t you go and turn Mr. Metcalf out of doors as soon as he begins to talk article to you; but you listen, and seriously. I’ve told him (what he knew) that you’ve the best head in America for a dead-in-earnest thing, that shall smile and hurt awfully [MTHL 2: 600].
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.