July 11 Monday – From Twichell’s journal:
“Another trip with our three oldest, — this time to Branford, on the invitation of our most kind friends, M.T. and wife with whom we had a charming visit (at their expense) at the Montowese House” [Yale, copy at MTP]. Note: see Twichell’s July 13 for some of the activities on this visit.
July 10 Sunday – Sam wrote a short note from Branford to Charles Webster possibly about Kaolatype castings. Sam thought they looked good, and suggested having prints made from them in “two colors, & if the thing turns out a success, show the result to Koch’s people” [MTP]. Note: refers to Peter Koch of Koch & Co., New York printers referred to in Mar. 31 letter to Daniel Slote and Apr.
July 9 Saturday – Sam wrote from the Montowese House, Branford, Conn. to Charles Webster:
“So it appears that the scrap book sales have fallen off one half in the past six months; —i.e., from 50,000 copies a year to 28,000. I return to you Slote’s ck, for use in the K[oalatype] eng. Co business. Send Perkins a note for it” [MTBus 161].
July 8 Friday – Howells wrote to Clemens: “Guiteau’s shot knocked the breath out of me, or I should have written sooner to boast that thanks in your absence I saw the boat race in all its glory—altogether a most beautiful and exciting thing” [MTP]. (Not in MTHL) This could have been the July 1 Regatta between Yale and Harvard.
July 5 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Branford, “P.S. But never at any time” and drew a partial bar of music with a bass clef (or f-clef) and a G-note, to an unidentified person [MTP]. The note may have been an inside joke between Sam and the recipient.
Charles Webster wrote from Providence, R.I. to request $500 from Sam for expenses [MTP].
July 4 Monday – Hattie J. Gerhardt wrote to Sam and Livy on their artistic progress, enclosing a commendation for Karl Gerhardt, in French, from a professor [MTP].
July 2 Saturday – James A. Garfield was shot by Charles Guiteau at 9:30 AM., less than four months after his term began. Garfield would linger through the rest of the summer and die on Sept. 19 1881.
Sam wrote from Branford to Osgood & Co. asking him not to buy more of “Brer Talmage” and asking for the proofs of the pictures completed for his book, probably P&P [MTP].
July – During the Branford vacation, Sam wrote a description of a game he called “Tenpins in verse.” He kept scores of Susy and Clara Clemens in his notebook [MTNJ 2: 398].
June 29 Wednesday – Charles E. Perkins wrote a summary of the directors’ meeting for Kaolatype Engraving Co. at which Sam is listed as attending this day. It was voted that Webster would be VP & treasurer, authorized for all financials [MTP].
June 28 Tuesday – The New York Sun, ran a comic interview on p.2 titled, “The Lookout of the World / Mark Twain’s Preparations for a Possible Encounter with a Comet” [Schmidt].