November 19, 1885 Thursday

November 19 Thursday – Sam left New York City for Washington, D.C. 

Sam wrote to Rollin M. Daggett, letter not extant but referred to in Daggett’s Nov. 28 reply.

Sam sent a full morocco copy of Grant’s Memoirs to Philip H. Sheridan (1831-1888) [Gribben 640].

From Sam’s notebook:

November 18, 1885 Wednesday

November 18 Wednesday  Sam wrote from New York City to Livy on Western Union form as stationery:

“Livy dear, I suppose I shall leave for Washington at 8 in the morning, arriving at the Ebbitt House there about a quarter before 2 in the afternoon.”

Sam wrote about the dinner the night before, only three courses but “a marvel”—raw oysters, very small, fresh, terrapin stew:

November 16, 1885 Monday

November 16 Monday – Sam referred to “12 hours’ cast-iron sleep,” going to “bed at 6” in his Nov. 17 to Livy. “…was asleep at half-past. I woke up twice for ¾ of an hour in the night…” [MTP].

George W. Elliot for American Rural Home Weekly wrote hoping that Sam “might be induced to write a few lines.” Elliot was a fan of Clemens’ efforts for a monument to Adam [MTP].

November 13, 1885 Friday 

November 13 Friday – Orion Clemens wrote: “I enclose replies from the mint, and will send you extracts from Macaulay’s Life & Letters next week.” And, “Ma treated me to a dog and pony show at the opera house last Saturday afternoon” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “What a ton of gold and silver is worth”

Rollin M. Daggett wrote from Wash. DC with his travel plans back to San Diego, and the book of legends he was preparing with the Hawaiian King [MTP].

November 12, 1885 Thursday 

November 12 Thursday  Sam wrote from Hartford to James Fraser Glück, a Buffalo lawyer and rare book collector, who had written asking Sam to donate the original manuscript of Huck Finn to the Buffalo Library [MTP]. Note: this is the half that survived and was re-discovered in early 1991.

November 11, 1885 Wednesday 

November 11 Wednesday  Sam wrote from Hartford to Frank Fuller, advising him not to pay Literary Life a cent to advertise for him. Sam wrote he’d “dropped that scheme I wrote you about” (on Sept. 26.) realizing it would take all the time from an “idle man.”

November 10, 1885 Tuesday

November 10 Tuesday  Sam wrote from Hartford to Charles Webster, directing him to send William Hamersley a check for $3,500—“it finishes the type-setter business in a very satisfactory fashion,” Sam wrote. Sam also instructed Webster to gather information regarding “General Grant’s literary powers—his happily proven ability as an author…” [MTP].

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