March 22 Saturday – Sam purchased a small wedge of land along the eastern side of their lot and 40 feet on the south for $1,000, which increased his frontage on Farmington Avenue by twenty feet [MTL 5: 271n6; Salsbury 17].
March 21 Friday – Sam paid $3 to Hawley, Goodrich & Co. for special notebooks of his design [MTP].
March 20 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Will Bowen, who had sent Sam an article about polar currents from Silas Bent, an oceanographer and formal naval officer. Sam thanked Will, and also explained his wife would not let him lecture anywhere.
“We sail for England May 17 & return in October—meantime we hope the most aggravating part of the house will be built & off our minds” [MTL 5: 320].
March 19 Wednesday – Susy Clemens’ first birthday.
March 18 Tuesday – Bill and receipt for $3 to Hawley & Goodrich & Co. for lost pocketbook [MTP].
March 11 Tuesday – Bill paid to Geo. W. Ford 395 Main St. Hartford; for 12 fire extinguishers charged $12 [MTP].
March 10 Monday –Sam wrote from Hartford to Tom Hood and George Routledge & Sons in London. Sam wrote about the Jubilee Singers, who were about to appear in London. He had heard the singers once, probably on Jan. 28, 1872 when they came to Twichell’s church. He would hear them twice more in his next visit to England.
March 8 Saturday – Budd gives this date for the first printing of Sam’s, “Poor Little Stephen Girard” In Alta California [Collected 1014]. California Digital Newspaper Collection online, however, shows as Mar. 11. [http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cdnc]. Note: previously in error as 1872. Sometimes reprinted as, “Life As I Find It.”
March 7 Friday – Sam, in Hartford, telegraphed and also wrote a short note with enclosure to Whitelaw Reid of the New York Tribune. Sam wrote about the convicted murderer William Foster and then changed his mind and asked Reid to “tear this stuff up” [MTL 5: 310-11]. Still, the article was published in the Tribune on Mar. 10.
March 4 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Elisha Bliss. Sam wanted Nast to illustrate the next book, The Gilded Age. He asked Bliss’ advice on the matter and a suggested price to offer Nast.