December 27 Saturday – Andrew H.H. Dawson wrote from NYC to advise Sam he was glad Sam would attend a dinner he’d been working on but if he didn’t show Dawson would be in “a fix.” The more he wrote the more illegible his hand became [MTP]. See Dec. 22 from Dawson.
December 26 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to his nephew, Samuel Moffett, who was in Atlanta and had sent his uncle “the very book” he had “been wanting & intending to buy, ever since it was published.” (The title of the book is unknown.)
December 25 Thursday – Christmas – Susy Clemens received a copy of Alvan Bond’s Young People’s Illustrated Bible History (1878) from her grandmother, Olivia Lewis Langdon [Gribben 77]. Sam received a copy of Moritz Busch’s Bismark in the Franco-German War 1870-1871 from his nephew, Samuel Moffett [Gribben 119].
December 24 Wednesday – Livy recited “’Twas the Night Before Christmas” for Susy and Clara. Sam, wearing a Santa Claus beard, rushed into the room and told the girls stories about his old times and travels [Powers, MT A Life 433].
December 23 Tuesday – Sam ordered the Nov. 1879 St. Nicholas: A Magazine for Boys and Girls and a Jan. to Dec. 1880 subscription to Scribner’s Monthly, both from Scribner & Co. of New York [Gribben 599, 619; Receipt at MTP dated Dec. 29].
December 22 Monday – Andrew H.H. Dawson wrote to Sam, enclosing a printed invitation to a festival and banquet at Delmonico’s on Jan 26, 1880 [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “I didn’t answer or go to his banquet. S.L.C.”
December 21 Sunday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Mary Mason Fairbanks. Sam gave the usual excuses and apologies for not writing. Evidently, Mary’s last letter said that her financial crisis was over. Sam blamed “confound speculation, anyway!” Sam was beginning his days by writing and ending it the same way, and had “to be dragged to dinner by the hair” [MTLE 4: 183].
December 20 Saturday – John Munro wrote from Bathurst, N. Brunswick to Sam. “I note by the papers that you are troubled with twins and I now enclose you how to raise them successfully this like Mr Toodles…Wishing you the compliments of the season..” [MTP]. File note: see Fuller to SLC 23 Feb 80 & SLC to Fuller 24 80
December 19 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Frank Fuller at the Windsor Hotel in New York. Sam wrote he would drop having the music box fixed until he was “out of this awful press of work.” Elisha Bliss had regained control after his son Frank Bliss had confessed his ambition was beyond his ability.
December 18 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Frank B. Earnest (suspected pseudonym of a journalist, probably from the Knoxville Tribune, where this reply was first printed, then reprinted in the New York Times on Jan. 2, 1880.)