August 8 Wednesday – Charles E. Perkins wrote to Sam: “Yours of the 4th inst is recd. I have recd from Mr Maze Edwards $259.36 & placed it to your credit as directed by you—” [MTP].
E. Kirkham wrote a friendly fan letter from Hamilton, Bermuda to Clemens, in which he mentioned reading and laughing over Helen’s Babies by John Habberton (1876) [MTP].
August 7 Tuesday – In Elmira Sam wrote to Frank Millet, responding to a recent letter. “All the world’s a stage & everybody is writing plays for it,” Sam wrote, reshaping a line from Shakespeare. Sam thought Ah Sin was going well; Joaquin Miller had a play opening at Wood’s Museum in New York on Aug. 27, but Sam couldn’t recall the name of it (The Danites, or, the Heart of the Sierras opened in NYC on Aug.
August 6 Monday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Elisha Bliss about copyright law, Canadian piracy, Andrew Chatto visiting Canada, and the requirement for a work to be registered in Canada 60 days before publication, something Moncure Conway did not do with The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and likely was unaware of [MTLE 2: 123].
August 5 Sunday – Charles T. Parsloe wrote to Sam that the new ending to the second act was tried and :
August 4 Saturday – Sam wrote to Charles E. Perkins, letter not extant but referred to in Perkins’ Aug. 8; Sam likely directed him to deposit a draft from Maze Edwards.
August 3 Friday – Sam had returned to Elmira, where he wrote George Bentley, publisher of Temple Bar, enclosing the first of the series of four articles of the Bermuda travelogue for simultaneous publication. If Bentley did not want the articles, Sam asked that they might be sent to Andrew Chatto for “one of his two magazines…” [MTLE 2: 117].
August 2 Thursday –Sam returned to the Hartford house, probably to wrap up issues connected with security and to check with the police.
In Conanicut, R.I., Howells wrote that the last installment of “Some Rambling Notes” was “first-rate.” Howells had received Sam’s invitation to Ah Sin, but did not go.
August 1 Wednesday – Sam met with Andrew Chatto at the Lotos Club [MTLE 2: 124] In a letter of Aug. 3 to Howells, Sam said he saw the first two performances of Ah Sin, but “came away” after that, which would suggest Sam left New York on Aug. 2 [119].
July 31 Tuesday – The play Ah Sin was presented by Augustin Daly and opened at the Fifth Avenue Theatre, NYC. The cast of main characters included: Miss Dora Goldthwaite as SHIREY TEMPEST, Miss Mary Wells as MRS. TEMPEST, Mrs. G.H. Gilbert as MRS. PLUNKETT, Miss Edith Blande as CAROLINE ANASTASIA PLUNKETT, and Mr.
July 30 Monday – Charles E. Perkins notified Sam that he’d had all the insurance renewed for 3 years [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env “All paid / Aug 3/77”