August 18, 1872 Sunday
August 18 Sunday – Sam left Saybrook for Hartford, where he probably spent the night [MTL 5: 149n1].
August 16, 1872 Friday
August 16 Friday – Sam telegraphed from Saybrook Point to Mollie Clemens: “Send down all my white pants” [MTL 5: 147]. Note: even then, Sam liked to wear white, though while Livy was alive, only in season.
August 15, 1872 Thursday
August 15 Thursday – Joseph L. Blamire for Routledge & Sons wrote to Sam, having rec’d his note of Aug. 14 with check for $150 for a ticket to Liverpool. Since he didn’t know how long Clemens would be at Saybrook, he’d hold the ticket in NYC [MTP].
August 14, 1872 Wednesday
August 14, Wednesday – Sam wrote from New Saybrook to Joseph L. Blamire of Routledge & Sons, letter & check for $150 not extant but referred to in Blamire’s of Aug. 15.
August 11, 1872 Sunday
August 11 Sunday – Sam wrote from New Saybrook to Orion Clemens, giving Aug. 21 as his sailing date to England, on what Joseph L. Blamire called “The Crack Steamer of the Cunard Line,” the Scotia. While lying around Saybrook, Sam had formulated his idea for a better scrapbook, and sent details and a drawing to his brother to keep as proof of the date of invention.
August 10, 1872 Saturday
August 10 Saturday – Bill paid to Putnam Phalanx Market, Hartford grocers; purchases made Aug. 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10: $6 [MTP].
August 9, 1872 Friday
August 9 Friday – Joseph L. Blamire for Routledge & Sons, NYC wrote to Sam having rec’d his of Aug. 7, encouraging him to go to England early in September, when he might “see a good deal of country life, before the folks begin to return to Town.” He recommended the Cunard steamship line [MTP].
August 8, 1872 Thursday
August 8 Thursday – Sam telegraphed from Saybrook Point to Mollie Clemens, asking her to “stir up that infernal Steam Laundry” [MTL 5: 141]. He also sent Mollie a short note and a check for the E.C.C. Kellogg Co. for the prowler bell he’d ordered installed at the Forest Street Hartford house. “All well. I am going to England in a week from now” [MTL 5: 142].
August 7, 1872 Wednesday
August 7 Wednesday – Sam wrote from New Saybrook to Elisha Bliss, acknowledging payment of $8,485.17 in royalties. Sam had finalized plans to sail for England “in 10 or 12 days to be gone several months.” He also related writing “strongly to Anna Dickinson,” the suffrage reformer who was trying to swing a book deal with Bliss but was holding out for a $10,000 guarantee.