June 8 Friday – Clara Clemens’ ninth birthday. Sam noted amusement at Clara’s efforts to understand his penciled comment on the flyleaf of John Abbott’s (1805-1877) Daniel Boone: “A poor slovenly book; a mess of sappy drivel & bad grammar” [Gribben 4].
June 7 Thursday – Sam gave a reading at the Decorative Art Society, home of Mrs. Franklin Whitmore, Farmington Avenue, Hartford. According to the Hartford Courant, June 8 p.2, “City Briefs,” there were a series of readings from Sam’s writings to about 150 members and friends.
June 6 Wednesday – John Bellows wrote from Gloucester, England, thanking for LM and TA, and offering his opinions about British history [MTP].
June 4 Monday – Upon his return from Canada, Sam saw Pedro Carolino’s book with his introduction and felt it would be a nice gesture to send it to Princess Louise. He also wrote from Hartford to Sir Francis De Winton in Ottawa:
June 2 Saturday – F.J. Permenter sent a printed poem, “Maud Muller’s Answer to Mr. Whittier The Poet” [MTP].
June 1 Friday – The New York Times reported on p.4 under “GENERAL NOTES” the following:
An Ottowa telegram says that although Mark Twain has obtained a Canadian copyright for his new book, “Life on the Mississippi,” the same difficulty as regards residency which arose when he last applied for a Canadian copyright will likely crop up again. A few weeks’ stay in Canada, even at Rideau Hall, it is suggested, will hardly constitute a permanent residence in the Dominion within the meaning of the Copyright act.
June – Osgood & Co. published The New Guide of the Conversation in Portuguese and English, by Pedro Carolino, with an introduction by Mark Twain, written a year before. Paine calls it “an absurd little volume” [MTLP 1: 431]. (See June 4 entry.)
May 30 Wednesday – The New York Times ran a short piece, page one, on Sam’s efforts to secure Canadian copyright:
MARK TWAIN’S COPYWRIGHT STRUGGLES.
May 29 Tuesday – Sam took an early morning train from Montreal bound for Hartford. If the train was on time, he arrived at about 8 or 8:30 PM [May 28 to Livy].
May 28 Monday – Sam wrote two letters from Ottawa to Livy: His plans to leave had been repeatedly delayed since Saturday. A raft trip down some rapids planned for three or four o’clock that day were scrapped due to a storm; Sam expected to leave at 4:30.