April 19 Sunday – Sam wrote a short note from Hartford to James B. Pond, inviting him to the Clemens’ home Wednesday evening, Apr. 22 for a presentation of P&P by Susy and crew. Jean Clemens added scribbles to the top of the note, to which Sam referred:
“The above is a postscript—I should say an ante-script—by Jean—& she has gone off without translating it”[MTP].
April 16 Thursday – John Linahan wrote from St. Louis to suggest a subject for the next book: a Comic History of the U.S. [MTP]. Readers would have to wait for Stan Freburg on this one.
April 15 Wednesday, before – In Hartford, Sam sent a note to James B. Pond asking him to send James Redpath $200, that he would refund it later [MTP]. Note: from the Apr. 15 note repaying this amount, which Sam wrote he “was forgetting about,” it stands to reason this request was most likely made at least a couple of weeks prior to Apr. 15, and should more properly be entered earlier.
April 14 Tuesday – Orion Clemens wrote: “I humbly apologize. / I did not expect you to write a letter, but merely send the photograph and autograph. I will send to Charley for the book for Fitzgerald.” [MTP].
George P. Lathrop for Am. Copyright League wrote “I happened to be in the Century office to-day, just after you had left. Now look here: this won’t do. If you can come down here just to attend to your sordid private interests, you can read twice for the Cause” [MTP].
April 11 Saturday – Sam wrote a one liner from Hartford to S.L. Caldwell, accepting for Susy and himself the invitation sent. Caldwell’s identity and the event referred to are unknown.
April 10 Friday – Before leaving for New York, Sam wrote from Philadelphia to Karl Gerhardt, recommending Erastus Brainerd, who had inquired after Gerhardt “with great interest” [MTP]. Note: Brainerd (1855-1922) a Connecticut native and Harvard graduate was a journalist. He would later move to the Northwest and become editor of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
April 9 Thursday – In Philadelphia Clemens inscribed a drawing to the Clover Club, where he was to speak in the evening. “Ys Truly / Mark Twain” [MTP].
Sam read “The Tragic Tale of the Fishwife” at the Actors Fund Fair, Academy of Music, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Fatout’s introduction in Mark Twain Speaking, p.194:
April 8 Wednesday – Sam went to New York on his way to Philadelphia, a trip which he’d expected to take Livy. She had a bad cold and a headache, so she did not go. Sam wrote late from New York to Livy of his disappointment on leaving her home. He went to General Grant’s in the evening.
April 7 Tuesday – Sam presented and signed a copy of his “Burlesque Autobiography” to Wellington Evarts Parkhurst: “Hartford, Apl 7/85. W.E. Parkhurst, Esq.” [MTP]. Note: Wellington Evarts Parkhurst of the Framingham, Mass. Parkhursts, brother to Dr. Parkhurst of New York, famous for his fight against Tammany Hall. If so, (1835–1897?).
April 6 Monday – Sam added a PS to his letter of Apr. 4 to Webster. He noted that the man made two errors in an enclosed galley proof, but the Paige machine made “not a single error” [MTP].
Karl Gerhardt wrote “I carried bronze bust to Col Fred Grant this afternoon and he gives it to his mother. I give the other members of the family terra cotta busts” [MTP].