December 4 Thursday – Sam and Cable gave a reading in Grand Opera House, Syracuse, NY [MTPO].
Sam wrote from Syracuse, New York to Thomas Nast, thanking him for the Nast family’s recent hospitality in Morristown, N.J.
“…do all your praying now, for a time is coming when you will have to go railroading & platforming, & then you will find you cannot pray any more because you will have only just time to swear enough” [MTP].
December 3 Wednesday – George W. Cable wrote en route between Albany and Ithaca to his wife, Lucy:
December 2 Tuesday – Sam and Cable arrived at Albany, New York at noon. Governor and President-elect Cleveland requested an audience. Writing to Livy the next day about the meeting:
December 1 Monday – The Clemens family drove north a few hours to Simsbury, Conn., where Cable resided. Sam and Cable may have caught a conveyance there to Adams, Mass., on the western side of the state.
December – Sam telegraphed Charles Webster. The place and day are unknown. “Plucky lawyers are scarce in Hartford,” Sam wrote, but recommended Charles S. Cole if Webster needed a lawyer to go after the American Publishing Co., to sue for copyright in light of the piracy of The Frank Coker News Co. of Talladega, Ala. (See June 26 entry.)
November 30 Sunday – Sam’s 49th birthday. Johann Schiller’s The Fight with the Dragon, a Romance, was inscribed: “Saml. L. Clemens, Nov. 30th, 1884” [Gribben 606]. Note: Perhaps a birthday gift.
Sam and Cable dined with Daniel Coit Gilman (1831-1908), first president of Johns Hopkins University [Turner, MT & GWC 63].
November 29 Saturday – Sam and Cable gave a second reading in Academy of Music, Baltimore, Md. From the Baltimore Morning Herald of this day:
November 28 Friday – Sam wrote on board the train from Washington to Livy [MTP]:
November 27 Thursday – Livy’s 39th birthday.
Sam and George W. Cable left the Nast home in Morristown, New Jersey on Thanksgiving morning [Paine, Nast 512]. Once again, Sam was away from home on a family member’s birthday. Willis describes Livy’s Hartford life at the time:
November 26 Wednesday – Sam and Cable left Washington for Philadelphia, where they gave a reading in Association Hall. In the evening, they gave a reading in Morristown, New Jersey and spent the night at the home of Thomas Nast, just before Nast began his own tour. The cartoonist arranged for them a quiet supper…Oysters on the shell were served at the little repast, and Mr.