3. Day By Day Volume 1 Entries

Births of Margaret, Benjamin, Pleasant and Samuel Clemens – Move from Tennessee to Florida, Missouri – Financial Panic and Hard Times – Henry Clemens Born
Sister Margaret Died – John Marshall Clemens Became Judge – Moved to Hannibal Sammy Survived Infancy

Sammy’s Idyllic Childhood – Summers at Quarles Farm – First Schooling
Brother Benjamin Died – Family Moved to Hill Street House – Murder Witnessed
Many Adventures – Cholera, Measles and Death – John Marshall Clemens Died
Sam the Printer’s Devil

School Days – A Proper Hanging – Cadets Cannot Smoke
Aunt Patsy Passes – Orion the Newspaperman

Sam Worked for Orion – First Humorous Articles
Sister Pamela Married Well – Part of Tennessee Land Sold

Satire & Pen Names – Sam Played Editor When Orion was Away
Final Appearance in the Hannibal Journal

A Drunk Burned – Sam Again in Charge – Grumbler vs. Rambler – Assistant’s Column Sam
Left Hannibal for St. Louis –New York City Typesetter
Philadelphia’s Better Than New York

Short Washington Vacation – Philadelphia to New York
Return to St. Louis and Muscatine – Orion Ties the Knot

St. Louis – Letters to the Muscatine Tri-Weekly Journal
Orion & Mollie Moved to Keokuk; Sam Followed – Visit back home
Oh! to be a Cub Pilot – Worked for Orion in Keokuk – Warsaw, Illinois – Back in Keokuk

First Dinner Speech – Dreams of S. America & Coca Riches – First Sweethearts
Keokuk, St. Louis and Snodgrass Letters – Cincinnati Typesetter – Macfarlane

Left  For the Amazon – New Orleans & Change of Plans – Bixby’s Influence  - Official  Cub Pilot – Learning the Big Muddy

1857 –  Sometime during his stay in Keokuk Clemens saw Henry Clay Dean (1822-1887), eccentric philosopher who inspired Twain’s 1905  “The War Prayer.” In Ch. 57 of LM, Twain described Dean:

Dream River and Dream Laura – Disaster Forewarned – A Pounding in the Pilot House
Henry Dead from Pennsylvania Explosion – More Steamboats, More Work

Pilot’s License – Sgt. Fathom & Captain Isaiah Sellers
Running Aground and Heroism – Working the River

Pilot Skills on a 300-footer – The Unfettered life – Sam the Mason

Trouble Brewed – Fortune Teller – Orion Commissioned Secretary of Nevada Terr.
River Traffic Closed – Marion Ranger Fun – St. Jo Westward; Roughing It to Carson Mine Feet
Speculation – Aurora – Conflagration on Lake Tahoe
Humboldt and Mining Fever – “a small rude cabin” at Unionville

Mining Excursions, More Feet, Backbreaking Labor – Esmeralda – Aurora
Josh Letters Yielded Offer –Territorial Enterprise Reporter
Goodman, McCarthy, De Quille &The Boys – Petrified Man Hoax
Covering the Territorial Legislature

Busy Reporter & Local Editor – “Mark Twain” & “Unreliable”
Bohemian of the Sagebrush – Lingering in S.F. – Burned out Sam – Mineral Baths
Bloody Massacre – Constitutional Convention – Third House – Artemus

1863 or 1864 – An article (title lost) describing the clergymen in Virginia City appeared in the Enterprise [Schmidt].

Third Territorial Legislature – Jennie Clemens Dead
Miscegenation Firestorm – ­“Poltroon and a Puppy”
San Francisco City Beat for the Morning Call – Jackass Hill

Mining and Tall Tales, Angels Camp – Jumping Frog
Literary Celebrity – Pistol to the Head

Fitz Smythe & Corrupt Cops – Sandwich Islands –Volcanoes & Captain Cook
Sacramento Union Letters – Anson Burlingame – Hornet Disaster
Hymns on the Smyrniote – “Trouble begins at 8”– First Lecture tour
Virginia City Homecoming – Robbed on the Divide – San Francisco Lectures
Isthmus with Ned Wakeman – Cholera Aboard

Key West – New York – Charles Webb Published The Jumping Frog
52 hours to St. Louis – Artemus Ward Dead – Lectures in Hannibal, Keokuk & Quincy
Back in New York – A Night in Jail – Three Lectures in the Big Apple
Quaker City Five-month Excursion– Miniature Portrait in the Bay of Smyrna
A Post in Washington – Elisha Bliss – Sam Met Livy

Washington Letters – Deal with Elisha Bliss – New York to Panama to San Francisco -  More Lectures & Goodbye to Virginia City – Goodbye to San Francisco - Panama, New York & Hartford – Elmira, Rejected Proposal and the Courtship Began - Sam met Joe Twichell – “Vandals” Lectures -  Hither and Yon

1868 – Camfield lists a story printed posthumously in Mark Twain’s Satires and Burlesques (1967): “The Story of Mamie Grant, Child Missionary” [bibliog.].

Midwest Lecture Tour – Visits to Elmira & Hartford – Sam & Livy Engaged - Sam Met William Dean Howells – Innocents Abroad a Great Success - Buffalo Newspaper Purchased with Jervis Langdon’s help – Grueling Lecture Schedule

1869 – Sometime during the year Clemens took out a $10,000 life insurance policy with Continental Life Ins. Co of Hartford [MTP]. Note: see June 16, 1877.

Sam Sues Webb – Finishes Lecture Tour – Sam & Livy Married “Sammy in Fairy Land”  - Buffalo Express – Jervis Falls to Cancer – Galaxy Articles – Langdon Clemens Born - Emma Nye Dies at Clemens’ Home – Diamond Plans

1870 – Paine says that “as early as 1870 he [Sam] had jotted down an occasional reminiscent chapter” for what would become his autobiography [MTA 1: vi n1]. Of these, Paine includes “The Tennessee Land,” written this year [3-7].

Bored with Buffalo – Bret Harte on Top – Elmira Stay – Joe Goodman Boost - New York & Washington – Hartford House Hunting – Nook Farm Rental - Eastern Lecture Tour – Thomas Bailey Aldrich –Elastic Garment Strap - “Sociable Jimmy”— Roughing It Published

Orion Accuses Bliss – Olivia Susan “Susy” Clemens Born – Langdon Clemens Dies
John Henry Riley Dead from Cancer – Visit to Fairbanks Clan – Vacation in Saybrook
Sam Sails Solo to England – Banquets Galore – Batavia Heroes

1873 – Gribben sites Tom Hood’s Comic Annual for 1873 as running Sam’s “How I Escaped Being Killed in a Duel” [707].

George Dolby (d. 1900) wrote to Sam sometime during the year, exact date unknown. Goodspeed’s at MTP gives: “Dickens’ Manager on his American Tour. Amusing letter to Mark Twain about the theft of a duck which they were to have had for dinner” [MTP].

England to Home Again – Sketches No. 1 Flop – Orion the Chicken-Rancher - Colonel Sellers Stars on Broadway – Clara “Bay” Clemens Born – Elmira Summer - Dream House Built – Fredonia Visit – Hike to Boston with Twichell - “Old Times on the Mississippi” – Atlantic Monthly Breakthrough - Typewriter for Genius – Reformed Lecturer

Hartford Life – Pirates of Sellers Play – Queer Letters – Beecher Trial –Tom Sawyer - Sketches New & Old – Gondour – De Quille’s Bonanza Book – Dreaming of a River Trip - Drunk Wet Nurse – Baseball, Umbrellas & a Boy’s Body – Chasing Down Gill - Bateman’s Point & Bowling History – Moncure Conway

1875 – Actor John Drew (1853-1927) remembered that Sam first saw him in the 1875 play, The Taming of the Shrew in New York City [Gribben 631]. The exact date has proven elusive.

The Nation’s Centennial Year
1601 – Started on Huck Finn – Ah Sin & Bret Harte – West Point – Tom Sawyer Praised Skeleton
Stories – Conway as Agent – John Marshall & Henry Disinterred – Sam on Stage Centennial in Philly
– Advice to American Publishing Co. – Hayes & Torchlight Parades Political Speeches – Tauchnitz –
Belford Pirates – Readings in New England
Jabberwock Auctioneer – Crazy Isabella

Sam’s Portrait – Bayard Taylor – Nephew Sammy – Duncan’s Lawsuit
Lobbying for Appointments – Alexandroffsky Marvels – Ah Sin Opened
Bermuda! with Twichell – Rambling Notes – John T. Lewis, Hero – Tramp of the Sea
The “First Home” Telephone – Whittier Birthday Debacle – Written Apologies

1877 – Paine gives this year for an additional excerpt written for Mark Twain’s Autobiography, “Early Years in Florida, Missouri” [7-10].

Sam’s sketch on Francis Lightfoot Lee ran in Pennsylvania Magazine, 1, No. 3 [Gribben 539].

Aftermath of Disgrace – Orion Apes Jules Verne – Bliss Contract for Europe Travel Book Quick Jaunts to Fredonia & Elmira – Family Sails for Europe - Frankfort, Hamburg to Heidelberg – Mannheim Operas – Speech at Heidelberg University - Twichell Joined in Baden Baden – Excursions by Foot, Boat, Rail, and Cart – The Alps - Twichell Departs – Italy – Munich for the Winter

Paris Balloon Ride, Horse Races, French Morality & Fires All Summer - Onanism At The Stomach Club – Crowded By Visitors -  Dirty Brussells, Antwerp & Dinner On The Admiral’s Flagship -  Rotterdam, Amsterdam & London – Orion Excommunicated -  Spurgeon Preaches, Great Darwin Seen – Gallia For Home – Howells Sleepeth -  Writing Tramp – Grant “Fetched Up”– Patriotic Frenzy – Ingersoll, Freethinker -  Lavish Colt “Blowout” – Holmes’ 70 Th Redemption

Hartford & Elmira – Investments: Kaolatype, Paige – Tile Club – A Tramp Abroad - Jane Lampton Clemens (Jean) born – “Wattie” – Boston Getaway - Frederick Douglass Speech – Grant Speaks in Hartford - Elisha Bliss Dead – Political Speeches for Garfield – Slote & Sneider - Grant Saves Chinese Mission – 1880 Income $250,000

1880 – Sam began using more facsimile correspondence cards of his handwriting to decline lecture invitations [MTLE 5: 6]

1881 – “Etiquette” was written sometime during the year but remained unpublished during Sam’s lifetime

1882 – Sam drew up a list of his investments and domicile expenses since Jan. 1, 1881.

1883 – Sometime during the year Sam inscribed Historical View of the Literature of the South of Europe by Sismondi (1881) to Livy L. Clemens / from SLC / Hartford 1883 [MTP]. Sam inscribed in a Rollo Book for Jean “Little-girl-left-the-gate-open-book” Jean 1883-4 [MTP]. Sam sent a copy of Punch, Brothers, Punch! And other Sketches (1878) with ALS to James R. Osgood asking for “50 or 100 heliotypes like those of the Howell children” [MTP].

Chasing after Stage Plays – Cable & Mumps – Lobbying for International Copyright Canvassing
Huck – Duncan’s Lawsuit – April Fools! – Poor Doc Taft
Tuscaloosa Pirates – Rah for Cleveland!
Twins of Genius Hit the Road – The Children’s P&P Play

1884 – An interesting inscription by Sam made sometime during the year, place unknown:

“Some people can smoke to excess. Let them beware. There are others who cannot smoke to excess because there isn’t time enough in a day which contains 24 hours” [MTP].

Sanctimonious Cheapskate – Huck Finn Took Off – 1,000 Investment Opportunities
Grant’s Memoirs – Path Worn to N.Y. – Banned in Concord – Black Bunting
Fantastic Sales & Royalties – Why Not the Pope? – Paige Quicksand
Sam Honored at 50 – Susy Starts a Biography

Editor’s note: The close of 1885 is a propitious division for this work, both in number of pages and in the life of Samuel Clemens, who was at the highest point of his success, with several best selling books behind him, immense success with the release of Grant’s Memoirs, and the future pregnant with possibilities as a publisher and writer. In February of 1886 Julia Grant received the largest royalty payment ever made in U.S publishing history. All told, some $450,000 would eventually be hers. Sam’s reputation was never stronger.