April 9, 1883 Monday

April 9 Monday – Charles Webster wrote: “Your smallest wish shall be gratified, no matter how much it discommodes me. I did not think for a moment that I was deserting my post here or I would not have entertained the idea…” He disputed Sam’s numbers on older books published by Bliss, as he had the binders statements in front of him—he listed years and numbers bound. He was enthusiastic about the sale of LM [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “No. of various books of Bliss”

April 8, 1883 Sunday

April 8 Sunday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Charles Webster. Sam’s mother was now living with Orion and Mollie Clemens in Keokuk by this time. Pamela Moffett was traveling in California but would return to FredoniaAnnie Webster was packing up her house there for the move to New York.

April 7, 1883 Saturday

April 7 Saturday – Sam’s carriage took George W. Cable to the depot so he could catch a train to Newport. Livy was too ill to accompany them [Turner, MT & GWC 20-1].

Charles Webster wrote enclosing a check for the last three months on old books. “Bliss won’t send me a price list or circular I have repeatedly requested him to do so…He says he will not supply me with books….What was your arrangement about ordering books from him?” [MTP].

April 6, 1883 Friday 

April 6 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Frances A. Cox. Sam thanked her again for the portrait of “Mammy” –“the lovely & lovable black face, heart of gold in ebony casket.” Sam also wrote that this reading was:

April 5, 1883 Thursday

April 5 Thursday – Sam introduced George W. Cable to the Saturday Morning Club, Hartford, at the home of Charles Perkins. Cable read “Posson Jones.” Richard Watson Gilder was among the guests [Bickle 97; Turner, MT & GWC 16-17]. Note: In this and a few other cases Sam’s young girls’ club met on days other than Saturday to accommodate speakers.

April 4, 1883 Wednesday

April 4 Wednesday – Sam sponsored and introduced George W. Cable in a program of readings at Unity Hall in Hartford. To ensure a good response, Sam encouraged well-known literary types from New York and Boston to attend [Fatout, MT Speaking 176-7]. In his Apr. 6 letter to New Orleans artist Frances A. Cox, Sam wrote “George W.

April 3, 1883 Tuesday

April 3 Tuesday – In Hartford Sam wrote an aphorism to John Bellows in Gloucester, England: “I would rather tell seven lies than make one explanation” [Sotheby’s catalog at MTP].

From George W. Cable’s letter to his wife:

Dear old Mark Twain sends kindest word to all of you, beginning, of course, with Nellie.

April 2, 1883 Monday

April 2 Monday – George W. Cable arrived in Hartford at noon and stayed with Charles Dudley Warner. From Cable’s letter to his wife:

      Charles D. Warner met me at the door just leaving for New York. He will be back to my lecture on Wednesday. His wife is at the piano practicing for a little afternoon musicale appointed for tomorrow at this house.

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