February 26 Friday – In Hartford Sam responded to the Feb. 23 letter from Clarence C. Buel of the Century Magazine.
When I get this book done [CY], I think a chapter or two of it will read very well in the Century [MTP].
The Bismark (North Dakota) Daily Tribune reprinted on p.4 the earlier February interview from the Cincinnati Enquirer [Schmidt]. See February, early entry.
February 25 Thursday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Laurence Hutton with a duplicate to William M. Laffan. Lawrence Barrett would appear in a Hartford play Mar. 3 and 4, and Sam wrote they were trying to get him to stay with the family — would Hutton and Laffan come and spend those two days with them also? [MTP]. Note: See Susy’s diary Mar. 14 entry.
February 24 Wednesday – From Susy Clemens’ diary:
February 23 Tuesday – Sam’s PS added to the letter to Karl Gerhardt written by Livy the day before:
February 22 Monday – In Hartford Sam read some pages of CY to Livy and daughter Susy [Powers, MT A Life 506].
February 21 Sunday – From Susy’s biography of her father, Papa:
Yesterday evening [Feb. 21] papa read to us the beginning of his new book, in manuscript, and we enjoyed it very much, it was founded on a New Englanders visit to England in the time of King Arthur and his round table [191-2].
February 20 Saturday – Thomas Fitch wrote to Sam, sending a manuscript of a play written by his wife, Anna Mariska Fitch, a novelist who Sam described as:
…an able romanticist of the ineffable school — I know no other name to apply to a school whose heroes are all dainty and all perfect [RI, Ch. LI].
See Aug. 2, 1863 for reference on Thomas Fitch. He asked Sam to:
February 19 Friday – Charles Webster wrote that the $100,000 notes were all paid and that no money was now owed; the firm had $260,000 in the bank and money coming in daily, with $50,000 in receivables he hoped they’d collect by the end of the month [MTP].
February 17 Wednesday – Alfred P. Burbank (1846-1894) wrote on Lotos Club stationery to Sam seeking permission to perform the Sellers as Scientist play written with Howells. Burbank was a professional elocutionist described as “tall, lithe, slender, and naturally inclined to action” [Proceedings by National Speech Art Assoc., 1893 p.208; MTLTP 197n1]. See Mar. 19 to Webster for Sam’s answer.
February 16 Tuesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to the Portland Oregonian editor, George H. Himes, about his old Hannibal printer co-worker, Urban E. Hicks, who evidently had moved around quite a lot and was living in the Portland area.