September 25 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to William Seaver, answering his note of Sept. 17.
“I knew you’d be glad the play was commended, & I hope that before this you & John Hay have been there & wept….Remember that darkey yarn I told you & Hay? Well, it has gone to the “Atlantic” & so you boys can’t gobble it, you see” [MTL 6: 245-6].
On or about this day Sam also wrote to James Redpath:
September 24 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Gov. William W. Belknap, about strategy to obtain an appointment to the Naval Academy for Samuel Moffett. They would try to gain the appointment through Keokuk, Iowa, even though Samuel had never lived there [MTL 6: 244].
September 23 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Robert Shelton Mackenzie, Irish novelist and since 1857 the literary and drama critic for the Philadelphia Press. Sam thanked Mackenzie on his “Correct idea of Col. Sellers,” and discussed the nature of the Sellers character, “drawn from life, not imagination—I ate the turnip dinner with him, years ago…” [MTL 6: 240].
September 21 Monday – The New York Daily Graphic ran a cartoon of Twain as a frog even though it was for the opening of the play, The Gilded Age (renamed Colonel Sellers); see insert.
September 20 Sunday – In Hartford Sam replied to the Sept.
September 18 Friday – Sam telegraphed thanks to Jerome B. Stillson, editor of the New York World, for the positive review of his play by Andrew Carpenter Wheeler (Nym Crinkle). Sam was gratified the review was “done up so thoroughly & handsomely,” and would have come by but he was leaving the City the next day and had “been rushed to death with shopping” [MTL 6: 232].
Nearly 4 inches of rain fell on the NYC area [NOAA.gov].
September 17 Thursday – Andrew Carpenter Wheeler of the New York World published a lengthy criticism of the Gilded Age play in his “Amusements” column. While not unrestrained praise, the play was certainly a hit and the criticism positive [MTL 6: 643 for text of review]. The New York Herald wrote:
September 16 Wednesday – The Gilded Age; Colonel Sellers Play opened at the Park Theatre, New York City with John T. Raymond in the leading role of Col. Mulberry Sellers, a part which he had already played in Densmore’s adaptation. The play was a popular success and would achieve a remarkable run of 119 New York performances [Walker, Phillip 186].
September 12 Saturday – Sam wrote from New York to Dr. Rachel B. Gleason, proprietor of the Elmira Water Cure who had consulted with Livy about her condition. Gleason gave treatments for profuse menstruation, which Livy evidently suffered from. Sam asked if Gleason would “write & tell a reliable lady physician here to come to the hotel & administer” Gleason’s treatments [MTL 6: 231].
September 10 Thursday – Sam and Livy, together with Clara Spaulding, left Elmira for New York City for a ten-day stay. They checked into the Hoffman House, one of the most elegant hotels in the city, two blocks from the Park Theatre where Sam planned to direct rehearsals for the Sept. 16 opening of the Gilded Age play [Powers, MT A Life 358].