July 14 Friday – Sam wrote a short note from Elmira to James Redpath not to schedule him at Jamestown, New York, the scene of a poor lecture on Jan. 21, 1870. “I suppose all lecturers hate that place” [MTL 4: 435].
July 11 Tuesday – Sam wrote a short note from Elmira to Elisha Bliss, notifying of the shipment of “up to Chapter 55” of Roughing It [MTL 5: 690].
July 10 Monday – Sam wrote from Elmira to reply to the July 7 of Elisha Bliss. Sam agreed to allow Orion small weekly draw amounts from Sam’s account, but most of the letter pertained to the upcoming book, not yet titled. Sam suggests “Flush Times,” subtitled, “in the silver mines & other matters – a personal narrative by Mark Twain.” Ultimately, Bliss would name the book Roughing It [MTL 4: 431].
July 7 Friday – Sam wrote a short note from Elmira to Orion, directing his brother to sources Sam had used for an article, “Brace of Brief Lectures on Science” [MTL 4: 429].
Elisha Bliss wrote to Clemens:
Dear Clemens, /Thanks for your contributions. I have been sick 10 days, flat on my back, most of the time—& feel hard yet.
July 4 Tuesday – Mollie Clemens wrote from Hartford to Sam, relating how Orion had felt “blue” after receiving a letter from Pamela, though he rallied. “For the first two years or more, I had very little faith in his being able to make the invention work, but my desire has been so great, I have gradually grown into the belief that it will be a success.” She told of their new quarters and obliquely thanked Sam for his money sent enabling them to afford it.
July 2 Sunday – In Elmira, Sam wrote a short note to Orion. Though only about three-quarters done, Sam felt he had enough manuscript to cull from and planned to bring the manuscript to Hartford in “2 to 4 weeks hence” [MTL 4: 427].
July – Sam’s article, “A New Beecher Church,” was printed in the July American Publisher [MTL 4: 440n2]. Sam so inscribed on the flyleaf of Louis Figuier’s Primitive Man, that read: “Saml. L. Clemens, / The Primitive Man” [Gribben 230].
June 29 Thursday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Orion, asking if the three articles he’d sent had arrived, begging off on opining on one of Orion’s machine inventions, and news that his lecture engagements would pay $250 in Boston, Philadelphia, New York, and Brooklyn [MTL 4: 423].
June 28 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to James Redpath. This was another list of particulars, prices, and places that Sam dictated terms about [MTL 4: 419-21].
June 27 Tuesday – Sam wrote two short notes from Elmira to Orion. Sam had written a new lecture that day and wanted Bliss to leave out the talk about the “Suffrage to Boys”. His second note announced he “wrote a third lecture to-day—& tomorrow I go back on the book again.” This last lecture, “Reminiscences of Some Pleasant Characters whom I have Met” was one given later.