September 3 Wednesday – Susy and Clara Clemens were accosted by a “drunken ruffian” down the road from Quarry Farm. The man “drew a revolver” on them but they managed to escape. See Sam’s Sept. 7 & Sept. 15 to Howells [MTP].
Charles Webster wrote to Clemens: about Howells and the Col. Sellers play, scene changes, final speech, etc [MTP].
September 2 Tuesday – Charles Webster wrote twice to Clemens [MTP]. (financial statements enclosed) [MTP].
September 1 Monday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Charles Webster. Frank Bliss had offered terms too difficult for Sam’s plan of offering a discount for a paired sale of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, so Sam commented that the “question appears to answer itself.” The Frank Coker News Co. of Talledega, Ala. had been running ads for Mark Twain books in Frank Leslie’s News
August 31 Sunday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Howells, thanking him “ever so much for reading that batch of the proof.” Sam regretted that he’d not be able to attend the first night of Howells’ opera A Sea-Change in November, due to his readings with Cable that were to begin “about Nov. 5” [MTP; MTHL 2: 500n6]. Howells wrote on Aug.
August 30 Saturday – Charles Webster wrote to Clemens: “It seems impossible to make any arrangement whereby the other Gen. Agts. Can sell ‘Huck Finn’ and ‘Tom Sawyer’ together, at a reduced price…” [MTP].
August 24 Sunday – Sam wrote from Elmira to George Iles, Montreal editor:
“I am on the warpath next winter, with George W. Cable—that is to say, on the platform. Therefore I dasn’t accept your & the Snowshoe Club’s kind invitation, for I shan’t know for some time, yet, whether my route is going to carry me through Montreal during the Carnival or not…” [MTP].
August 23 Saturday – James B. Pond wrote from Cottage City, Mass. The circular “brings hundreds of inquiries. All my letters are about Clemens & Cable” [MTP].
August 22 Friday – William M. Laffan for the New York Sun wrote to advise Clemens: “I put her into type and I think her highly amusing and seasonable. She’s on the Boss’s proofs and, I take it, is going in on Sunday” (in the file a copy typeset of “Hunting for H——” unsigned) [MTP].
August 21 Thursday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Karl Gerhardt, advising him to get letters of introduction from “Warner; he knows everybody in Washington…” [MTP].
August 19 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Charles Webster, asking for a copy of the Sellers as a Scientist play. Ask Howells or look in the:
“…safe in the billiards room. There must be a copy somewhere. I’m going to elaborate it into a novel. /Gerhardt is completing a most excellent bust of me.”