September 7 Wednesday – Sam wrote a twelve-page letter from Elmira to Charles Webster, “mostly detailed and intricate instructions” on Kaolatype. The final message was:
“My experience with Slote teaches me that this sort of letter should be destroyed. Therefore, read this till you are sure of its several points, then burn it” [MTBus 168].
September 6 Tuesday – Sam telegraphed from Elmira to Charles Webster that the terms were satisfactory for a contract Webster was to frame to “suit” himself. Sam added that he would send money this day [MTP]. Note: the nature of the contract is not specified, but may have been with Garvie; see Webster’s of Sept. 9 to Clemens.
September 5 Monday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Josiah G. Holland of Scribner’s, inquiring if he might “simultane” an article he’d sold them to an Australian magazine in Melbourne [MTP]. Note: Holland died on Oct. 12, just five weeks after Sam’s letter.
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].