November 22 Monday – Sam purchased a copy of Charles Carleton Coffin’s Old Times in the Colonies from Brown & Gross, Hartford booksellers. Sam paid $2.40 [Gribben 150].
Empire Dyeing and Cleaning Co. of N.Y. charged $1.90 to clean a shawl [MTP]. Note: This may have been left on Livy & Clara’s visit.
November 21 Sunday – Mollie Clemens wrote to Sam and Livy. Arguments over family spoons with Kate Lampton open the letter, then “No loving parents could have done more kindly or generously than you have done,” helping them financially, then more family nits. She enclosed a clipping poem from Walt Whitman for Livy, “My Picture Gallery” from The American:
November 20 Saturday – In Hartford, Sam sent an autographed note to an unidentified person: “None genuine without this label on the bottle” [MTLE 5: 203].
Robert Rutledge receipted Sam $80 for lessons from Nov. 6 through Nov. 20; included with the Clemens girls were Julia and Susie Twichell [MTP]. Note: may have been violin and/or music lessons.
November 19 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Mary Mapes Dodge (1831-1905), editor of the children’s St. Nicholas Magazine, explaining that publishing Prince and the Pauper in her magazine would lose “30 or 40,000” sales. Sam added:
November 18 Thursday – Sam was receipted for $3 subscription to the New York Evening Post. The subscription was for the period Nov.16, 1880 to Nov. 16, 1881. It would be one of Sam’s favorite newspapers [Gribben 503].
Sam purchased a copy of Thomas Malory’s (15th Century) The Boy’s King Arthur from Brown & Gross, Hartford booksellers [448].
November 17 Wednesday – Sam responded to a request from the wife of David Gray, Martha “Mattie” G. Gray, sending a sketch for the Buffalo Bazaar Bulletin.
November 16 Tuesday – Clara Spaulding signed Livy’s visitor book [MTP]. Note: the book was not used again until June 7, 1885, when Livy changed it to her diary. She then used it through Nov. 27, 1885 and again neglected it until the stay at Florence, Italy in 1892-3. There are some late entries from Riverdale, New York in 1902 as well.
November 15 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Darwin R. Barker, thanking him for an honorary life membership in the Fredonia Library Association [MTLE 5: 197].
The November bill from Atlantic & Pacific Telegraph Co. shows a telegram sent to Philadelphia (party unknown, see Dec. 1 entry for others).
November 14 Sunday – Annie E. Lucas wrote a fan letter from Queensland, Australia to ask Clemens for his autograph (Leod to George Oct. 25 enclosed) [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “From an Australian girl.”
November 13 Saturday – Sam purchased Common Sense in the Household: A Manual of Practical Housewifery (1880) from Brown & Gross, Hartford booksellers [Gribben 695]. See Jan. 17, 1881.
The November bill from Atlantic & Pacific Telegraph Co. shows a telegram sent to Elmira (party unknown, see Dec. 1 entry for others).