April 25 Sunday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Jane Clemens and sister Pamela Moffett. Sam had received the announcement from his niece, Annie Moffett of an engagement to Charles Webster. Sam had also received a letter from his mother urging him to encourage Orion.
April 24 Saturday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Howells about an actor, Daniel H. Harkins, who had dropped by to ask Sam to write up a play that Harkins had thought up over the past few years. Sam thought the play a good idea but referred him to Howells [MTL 6: 458-9].
April 23 Friday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Mary Mason Fairbanks who chided him for not writing. Sam gave it back in spades for her not visiting when she was “3 or 4 hours” by train from them. Sam was still talking about a Mississippi River trip, now he hoped in May or June, and then he’d “try to stop a night in Cleveland en route.” He told of going to Boston to see the Concord Centennial but not seeing it; and the Beecher trial.
April 22 Thursday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Dean Sage to thank him for the visit and to explain why his thanks were somewhat delayed. “Howells & I fooled around all day & never got to the Centennial at all, though we made forty idiotic attempts to accomplish it” [MTL 6: 452].
April 21 Wednesday – Sam wrote a $23.00 check to F. Bubser [MTP].
April 20 Tuesday – Sam returned home to Hartford.
April 19 through May 1 Saturday – The Gilded Age play was performed at Boston’s Globe Theater, John T. Raymond in the lead role as Colonel Mayberry Sellers of Hawkeye, Missouri. Howells attended on May 1 [MTL 6: 475n2].
April 18 Sunday – Sam wrote from Cambridge to Livy and enclosed a poem from 11-year-old Winny Howells. Sam & Joe’s trip to Concord for the Apr. 19 centennial celebration was thwarted by packed trains. Sam had a bad case of indigestion, so the pair returned home and tried unsuccessfully to con Elinor Howells that the trip had been a success [MTL 6: 449].
April 17 Saturday – Sam left for Cambridge, Mass. without Livy to visit William and Elinor Howells [MTL 6: 449]. Livy wrote on Apr. 23 to Elinor Howells that her wet-nurse got drunk when Livy was away, which explained her absence [MTL 6: 451n2]. Note: Livy had been ill recently.
April 16 Friday – Sam was in NYC, where 0.17 inch of rain fell on the NYC area [NOAA.gov].