March – Sometime this month Rosina Hay (1852?-1926), the German nursemaid, was hired. She would stay with the family for many years, and accompanied them on their trip to Europe in 1879 [MTNJ 2: 365n33]. Salsbury writes, “She was a Lutheran, had a lovely sense of humor and an easy, cordial laugh. She had good sense and great courage” [28]. Rosina would work for the Clemens family until she left to be married on Aug. 16, 1883 [AMT 2: 568].

February 28 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Edinburgh physician, John Brown, saying he was “delighted” with Brown’s commendations of The Gilded Age.

February 27 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to William Dean Howells about a mix-up in lecture dates for Boston, and Howells’ arrival in Hartford with Boston publisher James R. Osgood at the invitation from Sam’s neighbor and collaborator, Charles Dudley Warner. “I am in a sweat, & Warner is in another.” The visit was deferred for a week [MTL 6: 52].

February 25 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Mary Mason Fairbanks. Sam and Livy had been renting the Hooker house while their new home was being built. They planned on taking occupancy in the new house after returning from Elmira in the fall.

February 23 Monday – Sam sent two short notes from Hartford to James Redpath about “floating” the fact that Sam had refused an offer of $25,000 for 30 lectures, as a way of puffing the upcoming Boston lecture [MTL 6: 43].

February 20 Friday – In Hartford, Sam wrote a short note to James Redpath about the arrival of Charles Kingsley and his daughter, Rose Georgiana Kinglsey (b. 1845).

“Dear Redpath: / Mr & Miss Kingsley are coming to visit us as soon as lecturing will permit. Tell me how soon they can come. We want them” [MTP, drop-in letters].

February 19 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Elisha Bliss. Sam enclosed the Feb. 12 from Rufus Hatch, vice president of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, requesting 35 copies of Sam’s books to use on their steamship line. Sam’s facetious reply included:

February 18 Wednesday – Sam probably returned to Hartford on this day [MTL 6: 36n1]. He wrote from Hartford to Osborn H. Oldroyd, a Lincoln-items collector who established a museum in the Lincoln home in Springfield in 1883. Oldroyd was a steward at a lunatic asylum and had requested Sam’s autograph. Sam answered, and, though it was clear Oldroyd was not an inmate, but a steward, Sam wrote:

February 17 Tuesday – In the afternoon, Sam and Rev. Charles Kingsley were “unexpected speakers” at a dinner for the Massachusetts Press Association [MTL 6: 34n1]. Later that evening in the Tremont Temple in Boston, Sam introduced Kingsley, who lectured about Westminster Abbey [Sam’s remarks are published in Fatout, MT Speaking 83].

February 16 Monday – Sam gave a dinner speech at the Wilkie Collins Dinner, at the St. James Hotel in Boston. The Boston Evening Transcript: Feb. 17, 1874:

Mark Twain gave a brief description of his reception in England, saying that he was very successful in the object of his visit there, which was to teach people good morals, and to introduce some of the improvements of the present century [Schmidt].