December 22 Tuesday – The N.Y. Times article of Dec. 5, 1886 recalls this previous New England Society Dinner and the “Trick” Sam played on William M. Evarts. This is in the 1886 entry, but should also be in the Dec. 22, 1885 entry. Sam was in New York on that day, though the 1885 Times article covering the dinner says nothing of Sam or Evarts.
December 21 Monday – Sam wrote a short note from New York City to Charles Webster, directing him to re-ship a Memoirs, vol. 1 to Mrs. W. M. Laffan, as the first one was lost, and to send tree-calf books to Mrs. Grant for her autograph [MTP].
December 20 Sunday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Charles Webster, stressing the importance of securing a contract with Mrs. Grant for the publication, now planned a year ahead, of General Grant’s letters to his wife. Sam was afraid there’d be a demand for an even higher royalty or an offer to take in Fred Grant as a partner. Did Webster want Sam “to come down & ask for the letters?” Or, simply to come and consult about a plan.
December 19 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Edward House about Grant’s Memoirs. “As I was expecting, the book has instantly taken literary rank at the summit of its class of literature” [MTP].
December 18 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to his mother, Jane Clemens, hoping she was healthier and telling of Livy’s plans for the family to visit Keokuk in the spring, if possible [MTP].
December 17 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Charles Webster about the death mask mess, which Sam feared was an impending scandal that would damage book sales “a hundred thousand dollars’ worth.” Gerhardt was “obdurate” about demanding $17,000 for the mask. Sam thought a quick lawsuit would settle things [MTP].
December 16 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Howells, again about the “Library of Humor” book.
No, don’t keep the check—collect the check & keep the money…you & I will probably be bald & toothless before the Library is published; for if I get the two books I am expecting to get, they will come in ahead & shove the Library along a couple of years; & by that time other books will intervene again & keep shoving it along.
December 15 Tuesday – Denis E. McCarthy died in Irvington, Alameda County, Calif. He was 55. The New York Times reported his death on Dec. 18, 1885, p.2. The article mentions his association with Sam, “then a young and comparatively unknown writer.” It also recounted the fake robbery on the “divide,” which may have caused a permanent breach with Sam. McCarthy died as editor and proprietor of the Virginia City Chronicle, which he ran from 1873. Too much demon rum killed him.
December 14 Monday – The Monday Evening Club met at the Clemens home with a discussion of “Eloquence.” Susy Clemens attended the meeting. “The essayist of the evening contended that the only form of eloquence was verbal.
December 13 Sunday – William M. Clemens for Chicago Literary Life Magazine wrote “sorry” Sam was 50 [MTP].
Prof. John Fiske wrote asking if he could “accept your kind invitation for the 23d instead of the 16th?” [MTP].