April 6 Friday – Sam went to see the popular actor Edwin Booth in a play and called upon him backstage. Evidently, Booth did not appreciate such spontaneous unannounced contacts, as evidenced by Sam’s apology note on Apr. 7 [MTLE 2: 38].
April 2 Monday – In Washington, D.C, Bret Harte wrote to Sam. Duckett calls the salutation “extremely formal.” Harte had received an offer from John Thomson Ford (1829-1894) who owned theatres in Washington, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, about the play Ah Sin. Harte outlined the offer and asked Sam to telegram him his answer. He emphasized to Sam that the play was “ours” [Duckett 141-2]. Note: Sam accepted the offer.
April – Sam inscribed a copy of George Ticknor’s (1791-1871) Life, Letters, and Journals of George Ticknor (1876): “S.L. Clemens. / Hartford, / Conn. / April, 1877” [Gribben 704].
March 26 Monday – Sam read “Advantages of Travel” at the Monday Evening Club in Hartford, This was Sam’s fourth presentation to the Club [Monday Evening Club].
March 23? Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Howells, praising his effort on the play dialogue, and updating information on a lawsuit where the “villain got only $300 out of me instead of $10,000.” Sam wrote about beginning Orion’s biography the day before:
March 22 Thursday – Sam purchased a copy of William Morris’ (1834-1896) The Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of Niblungs (1877), for a discount price of $2.40 from Osgood & Co. [Gribben 487].
March 20 Tuesday – Sam purchased a copy of Fridthjof’s Saga, A Norse Romance by Esaias Tegnér from Osgood & Co. [Gribben 690]. See Nov. 13 entry for payment. Sam also purchased Bjorn Anderson’s translated Viking Tales of the North (1877) from Osgood [Gribben 24].
March 19 Monday – Susy Clemens’ fifth birthday.
The Boston Globe ran an interview on page 3 titled, “Mark Twain’s Tenets”—Sam’s remarks on politics and religion [Scharnhorst, Interviews 9-11].
Henry M. Alden (1836-1919) for Harper’s Magazine wrote “at the request of Mr. Moncure D. Conway” sending a check in U.S. currency the equivalent of £39..6s..6d sterling [MTP].
March 13 Tuesday – Sam probably returned home to Hartford [MTLE 2: 36]. He purchased back 1876 issues of The American Architect and Building News, a Boston weekly published by Osgood & Co. The weekly began January 1, 1876. Sam was billed $6 [Gribben 22].
March 12 Monday – Hartford taxes on real estate, insurance stock, bank stock, money loaned at interest and merchandise were due by Nov. 1, with the assessed valuation made public the following March. Sam’s valuation was published on this day at $66,650 [MTPO notes with Oct.16, 1876 to Perkins].