June 10 Friday – Sam attended the West Point graduation exercises for the class of 1881. He sat on the dais with the other dignitaries, even though he had no speaking role. General Christopher C. Augur gave the graduation address. There were other speakers as well, including Dr.
June 9 Thursday – Sam went with a party by train to West Point for graduation festivities, otherwise known as “June Week.” The group included Joseph Twichell, General Sherman, Secretary of War Robert Lincoln (son of Abraham Lincoln) and a dozen others.
June 8 Wednesday – Clara Clemens’ seventh birthday.
Sam gave a speech at the Army of the Potomac Banquet, Allyn House, Hartford: “The Benefit of Judicious Training” was the toast that Sam responded to [Fatout, MT Speaking 151-4]. West Point was the example Sam gave as the basis for his advice:
“All I know about military matters I got from the gentlemen at West Point, and to them belongs the credit” [Leon 148].
Opened in 1867 by William Bryan, the Montowese House was a very popular destination and included stables, a pier, tennis courts, a summer theater and bath houses on the beach. Many notable people visited the Montowese, including Mark Twain, Dean Acheson, Dorothy Parker, Thorne Smith, James Sherman (Vice President to William Howard Taft) and Agnes DeMille. Four generations of the Bryan family ran the hotel before it closed in 1963. The Montowese was sold at auction and demolished in 1965.
Branford is a shoreline town located on Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, about 6 miles (10 km) east of downtown New Haven.
June 7 Tuesday – Sam left the family in Branford, Conn. and went back to the Hartford house, which was being decorated for some sort of event. Sam wrote to Livy at 8:45 P.M. that he’d helped Mr. Beals to string flags of countries around the balconies, and nixed a giant arch that bore “letters as big as your head” spelling out “The Home of Mark Twain.” Katy Leary made up a bed for Sam on the study divan [MTP].
June 5 Sunday – Sam wrote from Branford, Conn. to Webster, confirming his legal actions taken (“…you did right to sue the quack”). Sam concluded that Slote had paid him only about a third ($1,800 or $2,000 per year) of what he should have received on the scrapbook invention [MTBus 160].
June 7, 1881: Sam returns to Hartford.
June 8, 1881: Sam gave a speech at the Army of the Potomac Banquet, Allyn House, Hartford:
June 9, 1881: Sam went with a party by train to West Point for graduation festivities. He returns to Hartford June 11th.
June 4 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Orion that “Everything is packed & the house is ready for the decorators.” They would leave in an hour for Branford, planning to stay through July, then to Elmira till mid-September. Sam used a West Point invitation envelope which had just arrived to send Orion a picture of baby Jean [MTP].
June 3 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to the A.V.S. Anthony, asking him to buy “100 of the choicest cigars in Boston, for [Osgood] to fight the Atlantic voyage with….” [MTP]. Osgood was taking a trip abroad.