October 10 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Charles Webster, again about getting “Dean” and about designs for P&P [MTP].
Sam also replied to the Oct. 9 of Stephen C. Massett, with an apology for his last note (see Oct. 7 letter).
October 9 Sunday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Karl and Hattie Gerhardt (see also Sept. 22-23 entry).
October 8 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Edward House, seeking another visit from him and his daughter Koto, as long as he could get rid of the plumbers, carpenters and decorators by the first of November [MTP].
Sam’s Oct. 2? letter to W.H. Lentz was paraphrased and quoted in the Honolulu Saturday Press [MTP].
October 7 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Chatto & Windus. He acknowledged payment of £874.16.9 from Moncure Conway, for which he sent thanks. This amount was for A Tramp Abroad royalties [MTNJ 2: 401n157]. Sam added:
October 6 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Elisabeth Fairchild, wife of Charles Fairchild, neighbors of the Howellses in Belmont, Mass. A dog of Sam’s had been killed, perhaps chasing a carriage or a horse. The dog was named Rab, after Dr. John Brown’s famous book. Another “pup of Rab’s exact breed” was wanted.
October 5 Wednesday – Sam was well acquainted with frustration from contractors. In his notebook:
“Sent Patrick for Ahern 10 days ago.— He didn’t come. Sent for him yesterday by Dr Hooker, to mend up a hot water leak & other things. He didn’t come. Sent for Robt. Garvie this morning, the necessity being pressing. He came, & did the work” [MTNJ 2: 401-2].
October 4 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Edward House, announcing they had all reached home and were living in a couple of rooms while the workmen finished remodeling.
“O never revamp a house! Leave it just as it was, & then you can economise in profanity” [MTP].
Sam’s notebook: entries for amounts due, deposits made with his banker, Bissell & Co. [MTNJ 2: 401].
October 2 Sunday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Webster, mentioning his hope of interesting William W. Ellsworth of Scribner’s in the Kaolatype engraving process. Ellsworth was “the nephew of the business manager & chief owner of Scribner’s” and would become head manager of the Century magazine in 1882 [MTNJ 2: 358n5; MTP].
October 1 Saturday – Orion Clemens wrote to Sam, “working steadily on my revising.” He noted Sam was no longer writing for the Atlantic. He was going to subscribe to Scribner’s [MTP].
October – On a Saturday, Sam spoke on “mental telegraphy” as a guest of William D. Whitney, a Yale professor, at Whitney’s home in New Haven. Sam gave his talk at a meeting of the New Haven Saturday Morning Club, a young ladies’ social and cultural group much like Hartford’s. Whitney’s daughter, Marian, was twenty [MTNJ 2: 359n12].