October 14 Saturday – Twichell’s journal:

“Walked to Farmington and back with M.T. and C.D.W. [Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner] —a most delightful day. The delicious grapes at Mrs Whitmore’s, lunched at Mr. Gray’s and called on Miss Mary Perkins at Miss Porter’s school” [Yale, copy at MTP].

This entry of Twichell’s fits the day Sam went to hear Georgia Cayvan speak, though Twichell does not mention her. In his Nov. 20, 1906 A.D. Sam recalled Miss Cayvan after reading of her death:

October 12 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Howells about his “blind novelette” idea. His scheme was to write a plot of his own design and hand it out to other noted writers, each writing his own version of the story. Howells would publish all of the versions in the Atlantic. The other writers resisted the idea, and Sam concluded that they were intimidated to follow his lead.

October 11 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Howells, covering a lot of ground. First, Sam didn’t think he’d be able to do anything for the January Atlantic issue. He’d spent the whole day “clearing off a fortnight’s accumulating correspondence,” and would take it out on Howells. Sam wrote about the collaboration with Bret Harte in writing a play.

October 10 Tuesday – Sam completed the plot for his contribution to Ah Sin, a collaboration with Bret Harte for a stage play [MTLE 1: 124].

October 8 Sunday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote to Sam. He liked the idea of the “blind novelettes,” (see Oct. 12 entry) and his owners were “crazy over it,” though he saw difficulties in persuading people to write them. He confessed the failure of the bio he’d done on Hayes, and “bills continue to come in with unabated fierceness.” He also praised Sam’s Sept.

October 7 Saturday – Bill paid to Paul Thompson for straw, etc. delivered Sept. 30. $14.60 [MTP].

October 5 Thursday – In Hartford Sam wrote a short letter to his attorney, Charles E. Perkins, enclosing a piece of plagiarism that was:

“…made up of paragraphs taken bodily from my various books, & idiotically strung together upon the thin thread of a silly love tale.” Should Sam go to the expense of an injunction? [MTLE 1: 123].

October 4 Wednesday – In Hartford Sam responded with a short note to William Seaver’s request for a miscellaneous article, probably for Harper’s. Sam wrote, “I can’t, old man—am too busy” [MTLE 1: 122]. Sam began collaborating with Bret Harte for a stage play, Ah Sin [MTLE 1: 124].

October 2 Monday – The Hartford Evening Post ran Sam’s speech of Sept. 30 on page two, “Just Before the Battle.”

October – The German edition of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was published in Leipzig by F.W. Grunow [Norton, Writing The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 90].