The Parker House Hotel was established by Harvey D. Parker and opened on October 8, 1855. [2] Additions and alterations were made to the original building starting only five years after its opening.
December 1 Friday – Isabella Beecher Hooker took a friend to see the Clemens’ home. Andrews observes that “the whole neighborhood felt free to show it to those who had not seen it” [86]. Isabella also ran into Bret Harte there, and “felt almost a dislike of him….” She had “an uncomfortable interview” during her visit with Sam that Andrews says “grew in importance as she thought about it, despite her realization that she might be oversensitively magnifying its significance.” From Isabella’s diary:
December – Sam’s story, “The Canvasser’s Tale,” was published in the December issue of Atlantic Monthly. Wilson calls the story “an extravagant burlesque of human eccentricities that depends upon hyperbole for its comic effect” [Wilson 21; Wells 22].
November 30 Thursday – Sam’s 41st birthday was also Thanksgiving Day. From Twichell’s journal:
“Called on M.T.’s and found Bret Harte there again (He and M. are writing a play together) and had some talk with him” [Yale 126].
November 29 Wednesday – Sam, upset that he had not received a response from De Quille, wrote from Hartford:
November 28 Tuesday – In London, Moncure Conway wrote to Sam:
“Chatto writes in some anxiety about your new book on the North Pole. I told him you would naturally let him have it. He has done admirably by Tom Sawyer; we shall soon send you the money for 2000…” [MTPO Notes with Dec. 13 to Conway]. Note: the “North Pole” book was a rumor published on Nov. 25 in the London Athenæum .
November 27 Monday – Livy’s 31st birthday. Sam gave her a copy of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s (1772-1834) The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1876): “To Livy L. Clemens / Nov. 27, 1876. / From S. L. Clemens” [Gribben 152].
November 26 Sunday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Howells while the rest of the family went to church, even Fanny Hesse, his personal secretary (Charles Dudley Warner’s sister-in-law). The letter touches a half-dozen topics, from Dean Sage trying to persuade Twichell to travel in Europe with him, to a sideboard Livy wanted, to Sam’s impulse shopping at D.P.
November 25 Saturday – In the evening Sam and Livy dined with Charles and Susan Warner. The Twichells “dropped in” as well. Sam read Winny Howells’ letter and poem, “and they were received with great & honest applause” [Nov. 26 to Howells].
November 24 Friday – Sam gave a reading in Providence, R. I., and then returned home to Hartford. The reading was similar to his Nov. 13 performance in Brooklyn. Sam and Livy entertained Charles and Susan Warner for dinner. Joe and Harmony Twichell dropped by [Schmidt; MTLE 1: 144].