December 4, 1876 Monday

scott 15 January 2023

December 4 Monday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote to Sam, enclosing a letter from Belford Brothers to Howells Nov. 29. The Belfords wanted the right to publish Sam’s future contributions to the Atlantic. “We would be willing to pay liberally for the right to publish them in the magazine, although the law allows us to pirate them.” “What answer?” Howells asked [MTHL 1: 166]. (See Dec. 5 for Sam’s answer.)

St. James Hotel, New York

scott 15 January 2023

 In 1859 Broadway near Madison Square saw the opening of two magnificent new hotels.  Amos R. Eno opened his Fifth Avenue Hotel, which engulfed the block front from 23rd Street to 24th, on August 23, 1859.   But his was not the first.  By January that year another white marble had opened, the St. James.

December 3, 1876 Sunday

scott 15 January 2023

December 3 Sunday – Sam wrote from the St. James Hotel in New York to Livy. James R. Osgood visited Sam at his hotel around noon. Mrs. T. B. Aldrich had also called and he would soon return her call. He wrote that he’d “used no whisky or other liquor to sleep on [but] was utterly tired out.” NYC temperatures ranged from 35-24 degrees F. with no precipitation [NOAA.gov].

December 2, 1876 Saturday

scott 15 January 2023

December 2 Saturday – In the evening Sam dined with “those leddy-hets till 12, then went to bed” [MTLE 1: 149]. Note: The “leddy-hets” (Clara Clemens’ pronunciation of “leatherheads”) are unidentified.

NYC temperatures ranged from 24-15 degrees F. with no precipitation [NOAA.gov].

Chelsea, Massachusetts

scott 15 January 2023

Chelsea is a city in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States, directly across the Mystic River from the city of Boston. As of the 2020 census, Chelsea had a population of 40,787. With a total area of just 2.46 square miles, Chelsea is the smallest city in Massachusetts in terms of total area. It is the second most densely populated city in Massachusetts, behind Somerville, and is the city with the second-highest percentage of Latino residents in Massachusetts, behind Lawrence.

Hoffman House, New York

scott 15 January 2023

n 1880s New York City, few hotels could match the elegance of Hoffman House, on Broadway between 24th and 25th Streets.  And the hotel’s mahogany-walled grand bar and salon was famous in the city.

This was where New York’s titans of industry and political power brokers congregated. Boss Tweed was a regular, along with Grover Cleveland, William Randolph Hearst, and Ulysses S. Grant.

Ephemeral New York

Subscribe to
© 2026 Twain's Geography, All rights reserved.