September 4 Sunday – In Elmira Sam wrote two letters to Charles Webster, responding to his letter of Sept. 2. Webster had written that the upper part of the house was finished if the hearths were not changed. Sam responded that yes, the hearths must be changed. “I have written to N.Y. for specimens of tiles to be sent to us here.” Sam had written to the firm of Wm. H.
September 3 Saturday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Howells:
What I call my mind, has been in a state of fierce irruption during three successive days. The consequence is, I am on my back, burnt out, devastated, & merely smoldering. …
September 2 Friday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Charles Webster, sending a design for the back & side of P&P. “Take perfect care of it, & don’t let it get injured.” Sam wanted a Kaolatype cast of it [MTP].
September – Based on Aug. 31 entry evidence, Sam probably wrote the Hamlet burlesque during this month.
August 31 Wednesday – The Clemens family waited in Elmira for most of the work to be completed on their Hartford house. Sam wrote from Elmira to Charles Webster, about locating Herbert M. Laurence a New York decorator; about a request to secure four acting copies of Hamlet from Samuel French on Nassau Street; and advised to keep back a day’s wages for the workmen.
August 30 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Charles Eliot Norton.
August 27 to 29 Monday – Sam was possibly in Boston past Aug. 26 a day or two, but by Aug. 30 was back in Elmira [MTHL 1: 371n5]. In an Aug. 31 letter to the Gerhardts, Sam referred to seeing Augustus Saint-Gaudens “two or three days ago” on the train, which would set his return to Aug. 28 or 29 [MTP].
August 26 Friday – Sam telegraphed from Boston to Charles Webster (“at residence of S.L. Clemens”), probably about the mason and plumber, William & Robert Garvie and James Ahern. Sam wrote on Aug. 12 about problems with the kitchen remodel.
August 25 Thursday – Sam wrote in the morning from Boston to Livy about his trip from Elmira.
“I never saw Mr. Slee any more after I went to bed at midnight in the cars. I found, next morning, in Albany, that I could catch the Springfield train by rushing; so I rushed—in a hack—& was the last passenger that joined it.” Sam told of seeing a working man who’d taken the wrong train so Sam paid his fare back on a 2-day ticket.
August 24 Wednesday – Sam reached “Albany early in the morning, Hartford at noon; Boston at 6 p.m.” (See Aug. 30, Norton). He stayed in Boston and Belmont until Aug. 26, and possibly a day or two more. [MTHL 1: 371n5].
Franklin G. Whitmore wrote from Branford, Conn. to Clemens, advising Sam on various bills and memos Sam had sent for him to review [MTP].