May 12 Wednesday – In New York at the offices of Webster & Co. A meeting was held reaching an agreement with Alfred P. Burbank. In attendance was a representative from Alexander & Green, attorneys; and Charles Webster, Frederick J. Hall (now a member of the firm), and Frank M.
May 11 Tuesday – Sam went to New York with the modified Sellers as Scientist manuscript. Sam telegraphed Howells, probably to inform him of the meeting the next day with Burbank and Sam’s attorneys to finalize the agreement for the play (telegram not extant).
May 10 Monday – In Boston Sam went to the Howells’ residence, and after an hour talk with him, they came up with a plan for improving the Sellers as Scientist play and worked on it. He wrote Livy:
May 9 Sunday – In Boston, Howells wrote to Sam, confused by the delay in telegraphs. Which day was Sam coming? He related the telegrams from West Point, his reply to Hartford, etc. At this point Howells wasn’t sure when Sam would arrive. Sam wouldn’t have seen this letter until he returned home. On the play, Howells was still pessimistic:
May 8 Saturday – Sam’s notebook lists an address for Edward “Ned” House in New York City, and a date of “May 8 or 10.” House could no longer walk. Whitelaw Reid described him as “the nearest to a living death of any case I have ever seen, and is most pitiful” [MTNJ 3: 234n26]. The source claims Sam visited House several times when in New York during the spring. In a Feb.
May 7 Friday – Before leaving West Point, Sam telegrammed Howells, asking him to answer at Hartford whether he should arrive in Boston the next day or on Sunday, May 9 [MTHL 2:557]. Twichell’s journal fixes their visit as May 5-7.
May 6 Thursday – Sam was at West Point, New York. Fatout shows him giving readings without specifying particulars [MT Speaking 657]. The pair rose at 6:30 AM and watched the guard-mount, then had breakfast. Afterward they toured some of the sections of the Academy. Sam wrote to Livy:
This morning the cadets all know us, so we are quite at home. I love you my darling. I must start along. [MTP].
From Susy Clemens’ diary:
May 5 Wednesday – Answering a promise to return in May, Sam and Twichell once again went to West Point Military Academy by way of New York City, where Sam ate a “corn-beef-&-cabbage dinner” at the Murray Hill Hotel.
…it gave me an indigestion & is trying to lodge a cold with me. Joe lost his overcoat in New York…[MTP: May 6 to Livy].
May 4 Tuesday
William Dean Howells would be much affected by the Haymarket riot (there was actually no riot), which Goodman and Dawson in their biography of Howells write, “marked the culmination of two decades of social conflict and resulted in a trial that gripped the entire country” [276].
May 3 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote to William Dean Howells, to coordinate a trip to work on the new Sellers play. Taking Susy to Boston as planned, a week from this day was out, since Livy said Susy would miss too much schooling.