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].
May 7 and 9 Saturday – The Boston Herald ran an article publicizing Sam’s complaints against George W. Cable in their recent reading tour, “Personal Peculiarities of a Well Known Author.” Sam remained silent on these accusations of stinginess and inconvenience caused to others as a result of Cable’s refusal to travel on Sundays. It wasn’t until ten years later that Sam came out against such claims, which Fatout asserts were generated by Sam’s talk with others [Circuit 228-31].
May 6 Wednesday – Ulysses S. Grant wrote to Adam Badeau, saying “you and I must give up all association so far as the preparation for any literary work goes which bears my signature.” Sam was fully behind Grant’s action [Perry 200]. Sam and Grant knew that Badeau had likely planted the story in the New York World claiming that Grant’s book was written by a ghost-writer. Perry claims Mark Twain was that ghost-writer [202].
May 5 Tuesday – Sam wrote a short note from Hartford to Orion, enclosing a letter from a relative he had “no shred of remembrance of. …maybe you & Ma may like to read her letter. All well & send love” [MTP]. Note: see Apr. 24: Clemma L. Bradley (nee Lampton) from McKinney, Texas.
May 4 Monday – James Redpath wrote to arrange a meeting in NYC. “If you are to be down on a Thursday I wish to take you to the Twilight Club”. He offered several other plans [MTP]. Note: this is clearly a reply to a non-extant letter by Clemens.
May 3 Sunday – In Hartford, Sam wrote to Charles Webster. He’d “watched closely” and had “not seen a single reference to the World’s lie in any newspaper” (The New York World’s lie about Grant—see Apr. 30 entry). He realized that if no other papers copied the report, that suing them would only give “that daily issue of unmedicated closet-paper” publicity.
May 2 Saturday – From Susy’s unfinished biography:
The next morning we rose early, took an early train for Hartford and reached Hartford at ½ past 2 o’clock. We were very glad to get back [MTA 2: 171].
May 1 Friday – Sam spoke at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, for their Founder’s Day, reading the popular “Trying Situation” and “Golden Arm” [Fatout, MT Speaking 656].
From Susy’s unfinished biography (her spelling):
May – Sam’s article “What Ought he to Have Done?” ran in the May issue of Babyhood [Lou Budd’s list furnished by Thomas Tenney and citing Branch]. Note: this piece also ran in The Christian Union, July 16, 1885 [Camfield, bibliog.]. It was also reprinted in the July 21 Courant as “Mark Twain on the Government of Children.” Susy Clemens reported that upon reading the piece, Livy was “shocked an