January 16 Thursday – Sam paid $10,000 for a 544’ x 320’ lot in Hartford deeded this day [MTL 5: 271, 277]. Andrews states it was “later enlarged by a second purchase…for $20,000” total [81].

For three days the area was covered with ice; Livy wrote about it in her Jan. 19 diary entry.

January 15 Wednesday – Whitelaw Reid responded that the insert was received 24 hours too late, even for the extra sheet, but that he’d have a new plate made for what he might print later [MTL 5: 272n1].

January 14 Tuesday – Sam wrote a revision insert about missionary work in his Sandwich Islands letters to Whitelaw Reid, which were to be reprinted in the Tribune the following day.

January 13 and 17 Friday – Sam wrote again from Hartford to Whitelaw Reid, acknowledging receipt of $100 for his two letters on the Sandwich Islands. Sam wrote about buying a lot in Hartford, but then crossed out the passage. On Jan. 17 Sam added:

January 12 Sunday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Ira F. Hart, secretary for the Elmira YMCA. Sam declined to lecture in Elmira or Towanda [MTL 5: 267]. He was determined to finish The Gilded Age before leaving for England in May. Sam also wrote to John M.

January 11 Saturday – A humidor with this date engraved was purported given to Sam at a banquet, most likely in New York. The humidor is said to have been presented to Mark Twain at a banquet on January 11, 1873. The presenter was his good friend Charles Tiffany. Charles Tiffany and his son Louis Comfort Tiffany supplied many of the decorations for the Hartford home.

January 10 Friday – Sam’s article arguing for annexation of the Sandwich Islands ran on the front page of the Hartford Courant.

January 9 Thursday – Sam’s letters to Whitelaw Reid on the Hawaiian question were published in the New York Tribune [MTL 5: 266].

January 8 Wednesday – Bill paid to Isaac Glazier & Co. of New York for three watercolors by “Miss Whiting.”(possibly Lilian Whiting of Boston) Also frames, misc., totaling $36.60 [MTP].

January 7 Tuesday – Sam’s letter to the editor of the Hartford Courant ran on page one:

SIR: When you do me the honor to suggest that I write an article about the Sandwich Islands, just now when the death of the king has turned something of the public attention in that direction, you unkennel a man whose modesty would have kept him in hiding otherwise. I could fill you full of statistics, but most human beings like gossip better, and… [Courant.com].