Jericho to the Jordan.—The distance from Jericho to the banks of the Jordan is about 1 ½ h. The bathing-place of the Latin pilgrims is nearly due E., beside the ruined convent of St. John, now called Kusr el Yehud, “the Jews’ Castle.” That of the Greeks is lower down, and is the one usually visited by travellers. We shall make a slight détour, so as to take in an ancient site, and as the road is good we can make up for it by a canter across the plain.
February 3 Monday – Sam returned to Hartford [Livy to her mother, Feb.2, MTP].
In Boston, William Dean Howells answered Sam’s Jan. 31:
All right: I return both your letter and B.’s [Burbank’s] so that you can have the true text before you. I haven’t heard from Herne since he carried off the play. It’s well to get it out of B.’s hands anyway, if he’s willing [MTP] Note: See Jan. 28 from Howells.
February 2 Sunday – Sam and Livy’s 20th Anniversary, which they both seemed to have overlooked — from a letter to her mother, Livy wrote:
Until I wrote the date… I had not remembered that this is my wedding day. Mr. Clemens is in New York for the day, he went yesterday and will I think return tomorrow…. Susy has gone to church Clara is in New York with Miss Foote attending to her teeth, Jean is upstairs reading. / It is a grey Sunday and looks like snow [Salsbury 273].
February 1 Saturday – Sam went to New York City and would return Feb. 3. Clara Clemens also went for an appointment with her orthodontist. Miss Lilly Gillette Foote, the Clemens’ governess accompanied them [Livy to her mother, Feb.2, MTP].
Sam’s notebook:
February – Harper’s Magazine, Number 477, p.439-44 included Sam’s story, “A Majestic Literary Fossil,” which was collected in 1893’s The £1,000,000 Bank-Note and Other New Stories.
St. Nicholas magazine for children, p.309-13 ran “A Wonderful Pair of Slippers,” which included Sam’s letter to Elsie Leslie.
January 31 Friday – In Hartford Sam answered Howells’ Jan. 28 letter. Since Howells’ visit, Sam had received Burbank’s Jan. 27 inquiry about playing Hank Morgan.
This seems to arrive opportunely. Return it to me & I will send it to Howard Taylor & suggest that he might do worse than put the “Yankee” drama into Burbank’s hands.
January 30 Thursday – Sam wrote on a card to an unidentified person:
If I had ever made such a resolution I would break it now. Yours truly Mark Twain. Jan. 30/90 [MTP].
Daniel Whitford wrote to Sam that the gross receipts of P&P for the week beginning Jan. 20 were $5,433.25 and he enclosed a check for Sam’s portion with statement (not extant). Whitford had called on Frohman to again discuss foreign rights to the play — no agreement was reached [MTP].
January 29 Wednesday – Mary Greening, cousin of Sam’s, wrote from Hunnewell, Mo. asking why she never got answers to her letters . “Why don’t your children write?” [MTP].
January 28 Tuesday – Howells, back in Boston, wrote to Sam regarding the play, The American Claimant (which had been Colonel Sellers as Scientist and licensed to Alfred P. Burbank in 1886).
January 27 Monday – The New York Times, p.5, ran a long article on Edward House’s lawsuit, “MARK TWAIN HAULED UP,” which cited from Sam’s Dec. 17 & 26, 1886 letters to House about dramatizing P&P. Also quoted were affidavits in the suit, and House’s Aug. 29, 1887 letter to Sam. There is little doubt as to the sentiments of the Times (see Whitford’s reason for a Times grudge, Jan. 31):