September 19 Sunday – The Chicago Tribune, p.12, ran an interview of Sam by Edwin J. Park, “A Day with Mark Twain / The Genial Humorist at His Summer Home.” Budd summarizes: “Many small details on Quarry Farm setting; SLC has done no writing there during past summer” [“Interviews” 5]. See this entire interview in Scharnhorst, p 91-4.) Note: This also ran in the Boston Daily Globe on Sept.
September 18 Saturday – Webster & Co., per Frank M. Scott wrote of Frederick J. Hall being “obliged to go West in regard to the account of R.T. Root, he owing us some $36,000.” Whitford felt Hall should go see Root. Scott wrote of trying to catch Sam at the Normandie Hotel, then the Gedney House and finally the Murray Hill, where Sam had just left for Hartford and home.
September 17 Friday, before – Sam wrote in his notebook plans for a one-day outing to Springlake Beach, New Jersey during the ten-day stop in New York after the family’s return from Keokuk [MTNJ 3: 256n94]. No evidence of the considered side-trip was found, though there certainly was time for such a side-trip and Frank M. Scott’s letter of Sept. 18 hints the trip may have been made Sept.
September 16 Thursday – In Elmira at Quarry Farm, Sam wrote to an unidentified person.
There are some who do not lie; & they are proof that it is possible for one to get rid of the habit of talking in his sleep [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote a PS that he thought the remark was plain but that “three persons of average intelligence” couldn’t understand it even after explaining it.
Sam also wrote to Franklin G. Whitmore:
September 15 Wednesday – In Elmira Sam wrote a few lines to Bacheller & Co.
Wrote that I had a sermon. Would wait a month & if it then could still bear my own inspection, would forward it [MTP]. Note: this “sermon” was “Concerning a Reformed Pledge: A New-Year Sermon.”
Sam also wrote to Franklin G. Whitmore. Only the envelope survives [MTP].
September 14 Tuesday – In Elmira Sam wrote to Andrew Chatto, who had sent a statement and notes for deposit, as well as a pamphlet of compositors’ prices. Sam noted that the English (as now) always seemed to make their own systems that don’t always translate across the Atlantic:
…I seem to discover a most curious thing: that over there you measure type by the 1000 ENS instead of ems, & have done so all this century. I can’t see how we came to change [MTP].
September 13 Monday – Jane Clemens wrote a rambling two-page letter for Sam & Family about not knowing what to write, of wanting to leave Keokuk, of dead relatives and of her daughter “Mela” (Pamela) being there for a visit on her way to see her son Samuel. Jane signed the letter, “An Old Citizen” [MTP].
Frederick J. Hall wrote to Sam of progress and several details at the Webster & Co.
September 11 Saturday – In Elmira Sam wrote to Frederick J. Hall, asking again when Webster would arrive back from his trip to Europe. Sam submitted a proposed reply to someone who had asked why Webster & Co. Needed data about compositor production.
September 10 Friday – In Elmira Sam wrote to J. Chester, and headed the letter “Private.” This is a response to Chester’s Sept. 8 letter for Lincoln University. Since 1882 he had contributed to the support of several Negro students at Lincoln. When a student, Willis, decided to stay on for graduate studies, Sam chose to cut his support.
September 9 Thursday – Life Magazine, which began as a humor periodical, ran a center spread cartoon captioned “Literature at Low Tide,” characterizing several American authors as carnival barkers. In the foreground, dispensing laughing gas through a hose, Mark Twain takes a coin from Buster Brown who takes in the gas.