November 23 Sunday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Howells. A Tramp Abroad was:
“…really finished at last—every care is off my mind, everything is out of my way—so I have accepted the invitation to be at the Holmes breakfast” (Oliver Wendell Holmes’ 70th birthday celebration).
November 22 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to the editor of the Hartford Courant. After a long harangue against new postal regulations, which required street addresses, Sam concluded:
November 21 Friday – “Twain’s Best Joke,” a story purportedly published the first time in this edition of the Hartford Courant, ran on page 2. This was the tale of Sam applauding himself by mistake at the Lord Mayor’s banquet. (See Nov. 9, 1872 entry.)
H.W. Bergen wrote from Newark, NJ to ask for a $400 loan from Sam, since the recent death of his wife and the illness of his child had left him bereft. Bergen was a road agent for Sam [MTP].
November 20 Thursday – Charles B. Campbell wrote from Newark, NJ to ask Sam for the late William L. Garrison’s autograph, should Sam have one to spare [MTP].
William W. Kellett wrote from Boston to offer Sam a tardy (by 3 years) thanks for his writing which lifted him while suffering cold in England [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Good letter"
November 18 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to William (Will) M.
November 17 Monday – Sam arrived home at 2:30 A.M. Later in the day he wrote from Hartford to Howells. He hadn’t had much sleep in Chicago and somehow didn’t feel tired, but knew fatigue would come. He waxed eloquent about the Chicago event and especially Robert Green Ingersoll’s speech.
November 16 Sunday – Orion and Mollie Clemens wrote to Sam and Livy, Orion stories enclosed.
November 15 Saturday – The Chicago Times, on page 3, ran an article mainly on Sam’s activities during the Grant reunion.
November 14 Friday – In Chicago, Sam wrote from the Palmer House to Livy at 5 AM.
November 13 Thursday – Sam delivered a “snapper” in his speech, “The Babies” (See Fatout, MT Speaking 131-3) for the Army of the Tennessee Reunion Banquet, Palmer House, Chicago, Illinois—the snapper that finally broke Grant’s cast-iron expression into waves of laughter. For Sam it was a complete and devastating triumphal victory, as high as the debacle on Whittier’s birthday had been low. In a letter written at 5 AM the next morning (Nov.