August 27 Friday – Sam wrote from Newport, R.I. to Elisha Bliss, asking for an “official statement of the royalties you have paid me upon Canadian sales of my 3 books.” The only book Bliss was authorized to sell in Canada was Innocents Abroad, and his books did not distinguish those from books sold in the U.S. For the others, only Routledge had Imperial copyright, a fact Sam should have known.
August 26 Thursday – H.W. Bergen showed Sam’s telegraph request to John T. Raymond, who was angry about Sam requesting copies of the contracts made for staffing and theater rental, angry enough to fire off a caustic paragraph to Sam, who was questioning the high expenses [MTL 6: 528]. Sam was still making money off the play, and probably didn’t want to kill the goose, even to the extent of Raymond making off with more than half the profits. Raymond’s note:
August 24 Tuesday – Thomas W. Higginson wrote inviting the Clemenses to a reading he was giving from his old journals “describing Newport society during the Revolution, especially while the French officers” were there [MTL 6: 522].
During their Newport stay Sam and Higginson used an old bowling alley. In 1907 Sam recalled the fun:
Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island.
August 23 Monday – Sam gave a reading from his sketches at the Bellevue Dramatic Club, Opera House, Newport. He was a great hit. Sam read: “How I Edited an Agriculture Paper” and from Roughing It. The reading was written up in the Providence Journal on Aug.
August 20 Friday – Julia Ward Howe invited Sam and Livy to a “Blue Tea,” where guests brought a few lines of verse or a paragraph of prose [MTL 6: 522].
August 18 Wednesday – David Gray wrote from Buffalo to call Sam “a perfect unadulterated saint,” referring to his recent letters as “long, kind & welcome.” He found Twain’s Mississippi Sketches “delicious.” A long and friendly letter [MTP].
August 16 Monday – In Shirley Village, Mass., William Dean Howells sent Sam proofs on “The Curious Republic of Gondour,” which would run anonymously in the Oct. Atlantic Monthly [MTL 6: 523]. “I like Gondour greatly, and wish we could keep your name,” Howells wrote, “Send me some more accounts of the same country” [MTHL 1: 97].
August, mid – Sam gave a picnic speech at Castle Hill Town and Country Club, Newport, R.I. [Roche 23-27].