January – By this month, Roughing It had earned Sam about $20,600 in royalties [MTL 5: 271n7]. Sam understood that writing brought in more money than lecturing, though it’s clear that both activities energized and pleased him.
December, end – Sam remained in Hartford with his family during this period and no letters from Dec. 22 to Jan. 3 have been found. Clemens may have gone to Elmira, where George MacDonald was visiting Livy’s mother [Lindskoog 26]. After returning from England, Sam was drafting an English book, so it’s probable he worked on it over the holidays. Sam got the book about a third completed and stopped.
December 28 Saturday – Whitelaw Reid wrote asking for a writing sample over Sam’s autograph [MTP].
December 27 Friday – Elisha Bliss wrote a royalty check to Sam for $1,718.36 [MTP].
George H. Fitzgibbon wrote on a Morning Post article, Dec. 27 about the Batavia episode: “Delighted to hear from you – All my family join unanimously and heartily in wishing you & yours a very happy & a very prosperous New Year. I enclose you a photograph of my two little daughters.” Autograph & photo requested [MTP].
December 26 Thursday – In Morristown, New Jersey, Bret Harte wrote to Sam, complaining about William A. Kendall, the past “sick & needy poet” who Sam had taken up a collection for to gain passage from New York to California. Kendall had accused Harte of swindling contributors to the Overland.
December 24 Tuesday – Camfield gives this as the day the poem, “The New Cock-Robin “ ran in the Hartford Evening Post [bibliog.] and cites [Vogelback, “Control of Tribune” 377-80], but Vogelback only cites the Jan. 2 reprint in the Chicago Tribune [377]. Still, it is likely the Dec. 23 verse ran within a few days. Evidently, copies of the Evening Post are not available.
December 23 Monday – Sam wrote a poem for the Hartford Evening Post, “The New Cock-Robin” Answering the repeated question, “Who’s to be Editor of the Tribune” Sam suggested a different man for each verse. The Tribune had always been a favorite and even a critical paper for Sam’s need of good reviews. The poem ran in the Post on either this day or the next, and was reprinted later in several other major newspapers [MTL 5: 262]
December 21 Saturday – Sam’s article dated Dec. 3, “How I Escaped Being Killed in a Duel” ran in Every Saturday and in Tom Hood’s Comic Annual for 1873 [Camfield, bibliog.; Budd, “Collected” 1014].
Bill paid to Hartford Ice Co. 5,825lbs $23 [MTP]. Judging from other bill documents, the Clemens family went through this amount of ice every six months or so (see May 2, 1873 entry).
December 20 Friday – The Springfield Mass. Union ran a correspondent’s article about Twichell’s church, which included a description of Sam in attendance on Dec. 15.
Livy and Sam wrote from Hartford to Jane Clemens and family. Livy wrote of Christmas and gifts sent and her joy at plans for Jane Clemens and Annie Moffett to come for the holidays.
December 19 Thursday – It was Orion and Mollie’s one year anniversary, and they dined with Sam and Livy [Livy & Sam to Jane Clemens, Dec. 20].
Bill paid to W.L. Denning for repair of rocker & cradle $4 [MTP].