February 19 Friday – From Hartford Sam answered P.T. Barnum’s letter of Feb. 18. Barnum had saved and forwarded batches of “queer letters,” unusual letters received from people seeking fame and fortune with the circus.
February 18 Thursday – Phineas T. Barnum wrote to Sam, unsure if he’d answered Sam’s last letter. He sent a “queer batch of letters” [MTP].
February 16 Tuesday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote with finality: “I can’t manage the trip [to New Orleans] this winter” [MTHL 1: 66].
February 15 Monday – Sam gave his second presentation for the Hartford Monday Evening Club on “Universal Suffrage.” For a portion of the text see MTB p.541 [Monday Evening Club; Fatout, MT Speaking 651].
Maj. General John Gibbon (1827-1896) wrote from Ft. Shaw, Montana to praise GA as “amusing and interesting, but exceedingly instructive” [MTP].
Robert Watt wrote from Copenhagen, Denmark.
February 14? Sunday – Sam wrote to Elinor (1837-1910) and William Dean Howells, thanking Elinor for sending family pictures. Sam liked the “good old human domestic spirit” that pervaded the photograph. Livy was in bed, commanded there by the family doctor, probably Cincinnatus A. Taft. Sam told of writing anecdotes about Strother Wiley (see Feb.
February 13? Saturday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Strother Nimrod Wiley (1815-1899), a famous pilot on the Mississippi during the 1850s. Wiley had read an excerpt from Sam’s Atlantic articles, reprinted in the St. Louis Times for Jan. 24, and recognized himself as “Mr. W——” in the second article. Wiley wrote to Sam who sent the letter on to Howells, and answered Wiley that he planned to be back in St.
February 12 Friday – In Hartford Sam replied to the Feb. 6 from to Hurd & Houghton Co. Sam didn’t see much money in the proposal of this publisher to bring forth a few good American novels “making them cheap, advertising them widely and securing thus popularity…” Houghton wished to make Sam the first author in the series [MTL 6: 379-80].
February 10 Wednesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Howells. Sam wrote that he’d sent the fifth article in the Atlantic series that day. He also urged Howells, who’d been meeting resistance from his wife, to “try hard, on the 15th, to say you will go to New Orleans.” Sam admitted not having much confidence in his insight as a literary critic, and Howells’ positive reviews of Stoddard’s articles for the Atlantic conflicted with Sam’s opinion.
February 8 Monday – In Hartford, Sam telegraphed that he’d sent $1,000 to President DuRell of the Salt Lake City National Bank to furnish bonds in a legal action to stop unauthorized production of the Gilded Age play there [MTL 6: 373].
February 7 Sunday – Twichell’s journal:
“M.T and I went down, by previous appointment, to Morgan St. Mission S.S. School and made a short talk apiece. Mark was very happy in his speech, and I was very happy to have him there” [Yale 54]. Note: the Mission was “Father” David Hawley’s headquarters. Bush claims Twichell and Twain often spoke there [130].