December 31 to January 1, 1877 Monday – New Year’s Eve. Sam and Livy attended a party at Isabella Beecher Hooker’s Nook Farm home, packed with neighbors and friends. Reflective of 19th Century obsession with paranormal and spiritual pursuits, plus Isabella’s megalomania, several mediums waited in an upstairs room for the new year to reveal Isabella’s vision, that she was to usher in a new order of government. “Spirits” had told her that she would rule the world.

December 30 Saturday – Sam signed a contract in Hartford for the play Ah Sin. Bret Harte and Charles Thomas Parsloe signed on Jan. 5, 1877 in New York [Duckett 127-8]. The three men were to share equally in the gross profits after deductions for certain expenses, such as printing and agency contracts with stage managers [See Duckett, p 128-9 for the main details].

December 29 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford per Fanny C. Hesse to Moncure Conway.

“Hart and I have written a play, the chief character in which, is a Chinaman, and we have leased it for life to a man who will play that part. We give him the sole right for the entire world.”

December 27 Wednesday – The Hartford Courant reviewed The Adventures of Tom Sawyer [Hirst, “A Note on the Text” Oxford edition, 1996].

Mark Twain’s Adventures of Tom Sawyer was published in England last June, and immediately many of the most easily detached and quotable portions of it found their way into the American press, and a wide circulation. The COURANT printed at the time two or three extracts from the book—Tom’s adventure with the beetle in church, a most delightful study…

December 25 Monday – Christmas – The Clemens family celebrated Christmas in their Hartford home, with Xantippe (Tip) Saunders as a house guest for a week (see Dec. 18 and 20 entries; Saunders to Sam Dec. 23, 1877).

December 24 Sunday – Sam returned to Hartford, accompanied by Xantippe (Tip) Saunders (see Dec. 18 and 20 entries).

The New York World ran a page two interview with Sam titled, “A Connecticut Carpet-bag.” Sam sidestepped a reporter’s questions in a humorous way [Scharnhorst, Interviews 7-9].

December 22 Friday – Sam gave a speech he called, “The Weather” at New England Society‘s Seventy-First Annual Dinner in New York City [Fatout, MT Speaking 100-3]. Budd calls this speech “The Oldest Inhabitant—The Weather of New England” [“Collected” 1017].

NYC temperatures ranged from 31-15 degrees F. with 0.20 inches of precipitation [NOAA.gov].

December 21 Thursday – This is the day Sam planned on going to New York, where he likely conferred with Parsloe and Harte on the pending contract for Ah Sin (see Dec. 20 entry). NYC temperatures ranged from 19-12 degrees F. with 0.06 inches of precipitation [NOAA.gov].

December 20 Wednesday – Upon receipt of Harte’s Dec. 16 letter about Parsloe’s interest, Sam wrote a postcard from Hartford to his attorney, Charles E. Perkins. Sam was going to New York the next day and return Saturday. He hoped the Charles Parsloe contracts would be ready then and would try to bring Parsloe back to Hartford.

December 18 Monday – Xantippe (“Tip”) Saunders wrote and accepted Sam’s invitation to stay with the family over the holidays. She agreed to meet him “at the appointed time & place,” which MTPO (Notes with Dec. 20 to Perkins) says was “probably Grand Central Station, in order to take the 11 A.M. train.” Note: It’s unknown which day Sam met her there, but he went to New York on Dec. 21 and returned Dec.