November 12 Friday – In the morning, Sam called on General James B. Fry, Mrs. Julia Grant, and William Mackay Laffan. He then met his mother-in-law, Olivia Lewis Langdon and returned with her to Hartford, where she spent the winter with the family [MTNJ 3: 264n125]. In his notebook is a reminder to: “Get spectacles,” and to meet with the above, then “Receive mother” at the hotel, “12.15. Friday.”
November 11 Thursday – Sam read the first three chapters of his work-in-progress, which would become CY, at the Military Service Institution, Governors Island, New York: “Yankee Smith of Camelot” Published in Mark Twain Speaking, p.211-13.
November 10 Wednesday – Sarah Knowles Bolton wrote from N.Y. to Sam. “Thank you for your temperance article. I enjoyed it immensely” [MTP]. Note: “Concerning a Reformed Pledge: A New-Year Sermon.”
November 9 Tuesday – Dora Wheeler wrote from N.Y. that she’d just returned from Cleveland and found his “most delightful note of introduction to Mr. Howells.” When could she come to begin Sam’s portrait? [MTP].
November 8 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Frederic G. Kitton, responding to his Oct. 28 request to contribute remarks to Kitton’s forthcoming book, Dickensiana:A Bibliography of the Literature Relating to Charles Dickens and His Writings (1886). Although writing other biographies, Kitton was noted for his work on Charles Dickens. At seventeen years of age he worked as an apprentice on the staff of the London Graphic.
November 6 Saturday – Sam gave a reading before the Hartford Saturday Morning Club. The content of the reading is unknown [Fatout, MT Speaking 657].
Sam wrote to an unidentified person:
November 5 Friday – General James Barnet Fry wrote from N.Y. to Sam:
November 4 Thursday – In New York, on Murray Hill Hotel stationery, Sam wrote to a Miss Samuel, answering her letter and request for a photograph of him.
I arrived in the city last night, & found your letter — whose very complimentary request I take pleasure in complying with [MTP]
November 3 Wednesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Sarah Knowles Bolton:
Please keep the enclosed private, & do not let any one see it — for the reason that it has not been published yet; it will appear on Christmas day in a syndicate of 50 newspapers.
November 2 Tuesday – Sam had a visitor in Hartford — Sarah Knowles Bolton, a prolific American author of a “famous” series of books (Poor boys who became Famous, Girls who became Famous, Famous Men of Science, Famous American Statesmen, Famous English Statesmen, etc. (see Nov. 3 entry). She did not stay overnight.