May 20 Wednesday – In Hartford, Sam wrote to Charles Webster. Progress had been made on the Paige typesetter; a big test was in the offing. Sam was ready to sign a contract:

May 19 Tuesday – Jane Clemens wrote to Sam & Livy about the weather, not getting out much, good neighbors, her new set of teeth, and asked Jean to tell her how the stockings fit [MTP].

May 18 Monday – Sam probably went to New York City as referenced by his May 17 telegram to Webster [MTP]. (No other documentation found; no letters published for May 18 to May 19.)

May 17 Sunday – In Hartford, Sam wrote to George W. Cable, who wrote and telegraphed the day before, upset at things he was reading in the papers. Sam assured him that they were the “slanders of a professional newspaper liar,” and that “this thing did not distress” him “for one single half of a half of a hundreth part of a second” [MTP]. The source of Cable’s upset? From Turner’s biography of Cable:

May 16 Saturday – In Hartford, Sam wrote to Orion that the family would leave for Elmira the fifteenth of June. Marked “private” Sam praised Charles Webster and noted General Grant’s high regard for him.

Charley has tackled the vastest book-enterprise the world has ever seen, with a calm cool head & a capable hand, & is carrying it along in a serene unhalting fashion which is fine to see. All well, —love to all [MTP].

May 15 Friday – Sam attended Chauncey M. Depew’s talk on “Poetry and Politics in the British Isles” at the Opera House in Hartford. Governor Henry B. Harrison (1821-1901) was in attendance. Sam and Joseph R. Hawley and other dignitaries sat on the lecture platform.

May 14 Thursday – Newspapers were reporting grossly inaccurate earnings for Sam and Cable from the reading tour—The Boston Transcript and the Boston Evening Journal claimed the tour had netted Sam “nearly $35,000.” On May 17, the New York World also claimed that amount for Sam, and an equal number for Cable [Cardwell 11]. The actual amounts were much less—see Feb. 28 entry.

May 13 Wednesday – Sam notified Edward M. Bunce, Henry C. Robinson, and other Friday night billiard players that he was moving up their gathering to the next day, Thursday, May 14, in order to attend a lecture by Chauncey M. Depew (1834-1928) at the Opera House in Hartford on Friday [MTP]. Depew was a Yale-educated lawyer and businessman who later served as a U.S.

May 11 Monday – Karl Gerhardt wrote twice, one to Sam & one to Sam & Livy, about medallions, his need for a small office, and his circular (on the back of the letters) for the Grant busts: (twice, one to Sam only). His second letter added that James B. Pond had offered a part of his office; Pond suggested a terra cotta bust of Henry Ward Beecher [MTP].

May 10 Sunday – In the wake of the rumor in the New York World, Sam wrote from Hartford to Charles Webster, admonishing him to “write nothing in any private letter to friend, relative, or anybody, which you do not want published.” Sam felt he’d been burned “so often, in my own experience, that I feel like warning & saving” Webster [MTP].