November 13 Friday – Sam wrote from New Boston, Conn. to Livy.
Livy darling, it is bitter cold weather. We got up at half past 5 this morning, took breakfast & cleared out just as the dawn was breaking. It was a magnificent morning; the woods were white with frost, & our hands wouldn’t keep warm—nor ourselves either….We shall take the train & be in Boston at 7 this evening.
See pages 151-54 The Life of Mark Twain - The Middle Years 1871-1891:
Probably from the Boston Times of 16 Nov 74:
MARK TWAIN.
HIS RECENT WALKING FEAT.
He Tells a Times Reporter All About It—The Beauty of Getting Away from Railroads—What He Intends Doing Another Year.
[written for the boston times.]
November 12 Thursday – A half-hour later than planned, Sam and Twichell set off at 8:30 AM to walk the 100 miles to Boston. Two and one-half hours later, Sam wrote from Vernon, Conn. to Livy.
“The day is simply gorgeous—perfectly matchless. And the talk! Our jaws have wagged ceaselessly, & every now & then our laughter does wake up the old woods” [MTL 6: 277-8].
November 10 Tuesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Francis D. Finlay, of Belfast, Ireland. Sam and Livy had dined with Finlay on their last trip.
“Now one of these days you must come over here. Never mind the sea. Come over in winter, on skates. We are in our new house—& so are the carpenters—but we shall get the latter out, by & by, even if we have to import an epidemic to do it.”
November 9 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote to James Redpath announcing Twichell’s plan to walk with Sam to Boston in 24 hours (or more), a distance of over 100 miles. “We shall telegraph Young’s hotel for rooms for Saturday night, in order to allow for a low average of pedestrianism” [MTL 6: 275].
November 8? Sunday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Henry Watterson a second cousin by marriage, explaining that Colonel Mulberry Sellers was a study of a certain mutual kinsman and that Sam had drawn him from life and not imagination [MTL 6: 273].
November 6 Friday – From Twichell’s diaries:
“Went on another walk to the Tower with M.T. Lots of pleasant talk. Never thought even to allude to the great democratic victory” [Yale, copy at MTP]. Note: Talcott’s Tower, a wooden structure about five miles outside of Hartford.
November 5 Thursday – Sam referred to an unidentified correspondent who sought his biography to “Allibone’s Dictionary of Authors” [Gribben 21].
November 4 Wednesday – Congressional elections saw Democrats taking control of the House of Representatives. At this time Hartford and Sam were staunch Republicans.
Augustin Daly wrote Sam thanks for the referral for play collaboration to Howells, who wanted to dramatize A Foregone Conclusion [MTP].
November 3 Tuesday – Sam was back in Hartford, and wrote to the editor of the Hartford Evening Post, H.T. Sperry. The paper had printed an article “The Drama of the Gilded Age,” which Sam wrote was an erroneous history of the play. Sam corrected the record and the suggestion that he had misused Gilbert Densmore [MTL 6: 267-73].