January 19 Thursday – Sam’s letter of Jan. 18 to Howells implied Ned House and daughter Koto ended their visit at the Clemens home this day. Koto had been ill but was “up & around again, now” [MTHL 1: 384].
Orion wrote Sam again, anxious that he had not personally addressed the package with his MS, asking Sam to let him know as soon as it arrived [Fanning 195].
January 18 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Howells. He informed him of Ned House’s visit, a story Charles Dudley Warner had told of a faulty will for the late Mrs. Dan Fisk, and enclosed a Jan. 1 letter from Hattie Gerhardt. The Gerhardts were in Paris, where Karl was studying art, and had enjoyed a visit from the Warners.
January 16 Monday – Worden, Webb & Co. wrote advising of the sale of stock, 100 shares of Western Union @ 82 [MTP].
January 15 Sunday – The Brooklyn Eagle, page 1, ran an article headlined “SAGEBRUSH SKETCHES, How Mark Twain’s Brightest Effort Was Kept from Print.” The paper gave credit without a prior date to the San Francisco Call. It seems Joe Goodman once called upon Sam to write up a fancy new saloon in Virginia City. Sam gathered a box of liquors from the saloon and “arranged them in a long row,” then tasting and describing each in print.
January 13 Friday – Charles Webster wrote that he had Patterson at work on the brass. He enclosed (not in file) a report of the Am. Pub. Co. from Bradstreets and would get another from Dunn & Wyman and “we can see how they agree. I think there are some lies in that statement, especially about the par value of stock” [MTP].
January 12 Thursday – Edmund C. Stedman wrote; not found at MTP though catalogued as UCLC 41429.
Ency J. Coleman wrote from Kalamazoo, Mich. to ask for a letter on “Clubs” for his club [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “No Answer”
January 11 Wednesday – Thomas B. Aldrich for Atlantic Monthly wrote to thank for P&P: “a charming conception and charmingly worked out. The only thing I have against the idea is that I did not think of it first” [MTP].
John Russell. Young wrote from NYC. “Any day or anytime will suit,—either here or in H.” [MTP].
January 10 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to David “Wattie” Bowser, who evidently had sent Sam a frog when Sam was in Canada.
“…they put him in the greenhouse & he lost himself immediately. The gardener hunted for him every day or two, & three days ago he found him. I have seen him, & he is all right & manifestly enjoying himself.”
January 9 Monday – At 11 A.M. Sam and Edward H. House called at the hotel where John Russell Young had been staying but he’d left on the 10:30 train. Later, Sam wrote from Hartford to Young:
“The prospective pleasure of writing that book [LM] grows with the moments; & already I foresee that in the building of it I am going to find a delight comparable to going to heaven.”
January 8 Sunday – Sam was visited by John Russell Young, who evidently discussed events relating to Sam’s newly planned Mississippi trip and book [Jan. 9 letter to Young, MTP].
The Lotos Club, New York, receipted Sam $6.25 for dues [MTP].