September 5 Saturday – Sam wrote a note of thanks from Elmira to William W. Belknap in the matter of Sam’s nephew, Samuel Moffett, attempting to gain an appointment to the Naval Academy [MTL 6: 227].
September 4 Friday – Sam and Livy wrote from Elmira to John Brown. Sam wrote of working on the manuscript that would become The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, writing on average 50 pages a day. Soon afterward, Sam’s “well dried up” and he put aside the manuscript after burning a chapter he didn’t like [Powers, MT A Life 354]. Sam had not answered Brown’s July letter, so felt the need to explain.
September 3 Thursday – Frank Fuller wrote to Sam, still lobbying for his penny postcard scheme:
My Dear Mark:—
It is evident now for what you were made. It was to take the inflation out of conceited inventors. You see, though, what this smart Aleck says.
September 2 Wednesday – William Dean Howells wrote to Sam:
My dear Clemens: / I telegraphed you last night to send on your manuscript, which I’d like very much to see. Your letter came just as I was packing up to come home, and I had not strength of mind enough to answer it, though it may not appear to a man of more active intellect a very heavy job to say yes or no.
September 1 Tuesday – Louis John Jennings (1836-1893) editor of the New York Times (1869-76) wrote apologies to Clemens for the misunderstanding. Sam had thought Jennings had turned down an offered piece and accused him of “overcharging” by asking $250. “I honestly thought that the article you were kind enough to offer to use was not worth to us $250—and as a matter of business I though it best to tell you frankly.
August 31 Monday – The opening night of the stage play of The Gilded Age; or, Colonel Sellers took place at the Opera House in Rochester, New York. Sam was expected to attend. Although no outbreak has since been documented, Sam telegraphed from Elmira to John T.
August 29 Saturday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Emma Parish, acknowledged by Sam to be a cousin, although she is not listed in family genealogies. He offered that his mother was 71, an “enthusiast on genealogy” and living in Fredonia, & “pretty strong yet,” Sam said. “I would not know where to rake up a relative for breakfast if I were starving.” Emma was a student and native of Salem, Virginia. He suggested an exchange of family photographs.
August 28 Friday – Sam wrote from Elmira to William W. Belknap (1829-1890), who had been secretary of war since 1869, in behalf of his nephew, Samuel Moffett, in gaining entrance to the Naval Academy.
August 26 Wednesday – Gilbert B. Densmore wrote to Clemens. In part:
August 23 Sunday – Sam wrote from Elmira to his sister, Pamela Moffett. Pamela was hoping Sam might help her obtain a nomination for her son, Samuel Moffett, to the U.S. Naval Academy. Sam advised her not to try for an appointment from St. Louis where she had formerly lived, but from a Congressman of her present district, Walter Loomis Sessions.