December 9 Thursday – J. Ross Browne died in San Francisco, possibly of appendicitis. He was 54 [Browne 407].
John W. Hart wrote to Sam from State Prison awash in over-the-top prose. It all boils down to what Sam wrote on the envelope [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “From the burglar Hart describing the ship.” Hart had sent Sam a model ship made in prison.
December 7 and 9 Thursday – Sam’s letter to the Hartford Courant, “The Infant Asylum Fair,” was reprinted in the New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Boston Evening Journal, and the Boston Morning Journal [Camfield, bibliog.].
December 6 Monday – Robert Watt wrote to thank Sam for “the two splendid copies of your New and Old Sketches” [MTP].
December 5 Sunday – Sam responded to a Dec. 2 tongue-in-cheek note from William A. Seaver asking for a copy of his new Sketches book, and including sentiments of a scorned lover. Sam responded by sending an inscribed copy of Sketches, New and Old: “To the aged & virtuous Wm. A.
December 2 Thursday – William A. Seaver wrote from NYC.
Clemens, dear:— / Whenever I can find the baldest pretence for introducing your name among the “Personals” of the Weekly or Bazar, I do it. You miss a great deal of this good reading, which I’m sorry for.
And this reminds me that you have n’t sent me your last big thing, which I want, with your autograph.
I still think I am yours truly, / Wm. A. Seaver.
I’m satisfied that you are no longer fond of me. You avoid me [MTPO].
December – Sometime during the month Sam wrote from Hartford to John D. Kinney, his Lake Bigler forest fire buddy.
My Dear Kinney:
Upon receipt of this note the American Publishing Co. will furnish to you a cloth copy of Innocents, Roughing It, & Sketches, charging the same to my account, & will send the books to you or to such address as you may name
November 30 Tuesday – Sam’s 40th birthday.
November 27 Saturday – On Livy’s 30th birthday, Sam wrote her a love letter, although both were home in Hartford.
November 23 Tuesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Howells, answering his Nov. 21 letter, which praised The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Howells had made a few pencil suggestions and corrections, mostly in the first third of the book, and recommended Sam cut the last chapter. Howells, like Sam, grew up in the Midwest, and the book undoubtedly stirred boyhood memories, although Howells’ boyhood was not as idyllic as Sam’s.
November 22 Monday – Unidentified “company interfered” with Sam and Livy’s reading of Howells’ “Private Theatricals,” the first part of which appeared in the November Atlantic Monthly [MTL 6: 595-7n6].