December 10 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Thomas Nast, thanking him for his autograph that he sent to Mary Fairbanks’ son, Charley, a fan of Nast who later became his protégé and even named a son after him. Sam also was grateful for Nast’s role in helping to elect Grant over Greeley in the recent election.
My Dear Nast—
December 7 Saturday – Sam’s letter, “The Missouri Disaster” dated Dec. 5, ran in the New York Tribune [Camfield, bibliog.].
December 6 Friday – Sam’s letter, “Concerning an Insupportable Nuisance” dated Dec. 5, ran in the Hartford Evening Post [Camfield, bibliog.].
December 5 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to his mother and family in Fredonia, asking for any two of them to visit during the winter and for “a couple of you here for Christmas.” Livy couldn’t handle any more than two guests at once [MTL 5: 240].
December 3 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to the editor of the San Francisco Alta California. Sam intended the letter to be printed, and it was on the front page of the Dec. 14 issue. The appeal was for Captain Ned Wakeman, who was suddenly stricken with paralysis while at sea. Wakeman partially recovered but died at age 57 [MTL 5: 233].
December – Sam wrote to the Editor of the Literary World about unconscious plagiarism in Innocents Abroad. Unconscious plagiarism was an idea that Sam spoke about in an 1879 speech honoring Oliver Wendell Holmes [MTL 5: 232, 233n4].
November 30 Saturday – Sam’s 37th birthday.
November 29 Friday – Horace Greeley, defeated earlier in the month for president by Grant, died from brain inflammation.
November 27 Wednesday – Livy’s 27th birthday.
November 26 Tuesday – Sam took C.F. Wood and servant to the train. Wood crossed the continent by the Great Pacific Railway and sailed from San Francisco for New Zealand, stopping at the Sandwich Islands [MTL 5: 231n2].
Mollie Clemens and Sam wrote from Hartford to their mother, Jane Lampton Clemens and Pamela Moffett.