Day By Day Dates

August 12 Wednesday – Sam and Livy stopped about half way home at Canandaigua, New York, where they were guests of a coal merchant, H. Gridley and wife. They may have stayed one or two nights [MTL 6: 205].

August 13 Thursday – Phineas T. Barnum wrote to invite Sam “down here Saturday next” for a clam bake. “Am getting quite a stack of queer letters for you” [MTP].

August 14 Friday – The Clemenses were back in Elmira with their children, the Langdons and the Cranes. Livy was exhausted by the trip, still not fully recovered from the birth of Clara [MTL 6: 205].

August 15 Saturday – Sam wrote from Elmira to his mother and sister. Sam had been rude to a banker friend of the family while in Fredonia and so wrote apologies. The details of the incident which pricked Sam’s conscience are unknown [MTL 6: 207].

H. Torrey wrote from NYC to Sam having rec’d his note in Phila. He asked for help with a book idea [MTP].

August 21 Friday – Frank Fuller wrote to air a scheme for penny postcards and to congratulate Sam on the birth of Clara, news he’d learned from a recent visit with the Twichells. “Do not dare to come to N.Y. without letting me know” [MTP]. Note: Sam declined the scheme in a letter not extant.

August 22 Saturday – Sam wrote from Elmira to William Dean Howells, extolling Howells’ latest novel, A Foregone Conclusion, the third installment having appeared in the Sept. issue of Atlantic Monthly. Livy’s condition made it necessary to stay in Elmira a bit longer than planned. Sam thought another month [MTL 6: 209].

August 23 Sunday – Sam wrote from Elmira to his sister, Pamela Moffett. Pamela was hoping Sam might help her obtain a nomination for her son, Samuel Moffett, to the U.S. Naval Academy. Sam advised her not to try for an appointment from St. Louis where she had formerly lived, but from a Congressman of her present district, Walter Loomis Sessions.

August 26 Wednesday – Gilbert B. Densmore wrote to Clemens. In part:

August 28 Friday – Sam wrote from Elmira to William W. Belknap (1829-1890), who had been secretary of war since 1869, in behalf of his nephew, Samuel Moffett, in gaining entrance to the Naval Academy.

August 29 Saturday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Emma Parish, acknowledged by Sam to be a cousin, although she is not listed in family genealogies. He offered that his mother was 71, an “enthusiast on genealogy” and living in Fredonia, & “pretty strong yet,” Sam said. “I would not know where to rake up a relative for breakfast if I were starving.” Emma was a student and native of Salem, Virginia. He suggested an exchange of family photographs.

August 31 Monday – The opening night of the stage play of The Gilded Age; or, Colonel Sellers took place at the Opera House in Rochester, New York. Sam was expected to attend. Although no outbreak has since been documented, Sam telegraphed from Elmira to John T.

September Virginia S. Patterson (Mrs. Robert Patterson) wrote from Bellefountain, Ohio, wanting Sam’s opinion of two or three articles she wrote. A few weeks later she wrote again having heard nothing back, even though she realized he must be “besieged” by such requests [MTP].

September 1 Tuesday – Louis John Jennings (1836-1893) editor of the New York Times (1869-76) wrote apologies to Clemens for the misunderstanding. Sam had thought Jennings had turned down an offered piece and accused him of “overcharging” by asking $250. “I honestly thought that the article you were kind enough to offer to use was not worth to us $250—and as a matter of business I though it best to tell you frankly.

September 2 Wednesday – William Dean Howells wrote to Sam:

My dear Clemens: / I telegraphed you last night to send on your manuscript, which I’d like very much to see. Your letter came just as I was packing up to come home, and I had not strength of mind enough to answer it, though it may not appear to a man of more active intellect a very heavy job to say yes or no.

September 3 Thursday – Frank Fuller wrote to Sam, still lobbying for his penny postcard scheme:

My Dear Mark:—

It is evident now for what you were made. It was to take the inflation out of conceited inventors. You see, though, what this smart Aleck says.

September 4 Friday – Sam and Livy wrote from Elmira to John Brown. Sam wrote of working on the manuscript that would become The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, writing on average 50 pages a day. Soon afterward, Sam’s “well dried up” and he put aside the manuscript after burning a chapter he didn’t like [Powers, MT A Life 354]. Sam had not answered Brown’s July letter, so felt the need to explain.

September 5 Saturday – Sam wrote a note of thanks from Elmira to William W. Belknap in the matter of Sam’s nephew, Samuel Moffett, attempting to gain an appointment to the Naval Academy [MTL 6: 227].

September 6 Sunday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Frank Fuller, responding to two letters. Sam declined to invest in Fuller’s investment opportunities, due to the high cost of Sam’s new house [MTL 6: 228].

September 7 Monday – Sam traveled to Buffalo and in the evening was at the Academy of Music for the opening of the Gilded Age play. At the close of act four, Sam was called to the front of the private box and asked to say a few words. His short message was advice not to attend your own play on opening night. Sam seemed overcome by it all, but received an ovation. The critics in Buffalo gave Sam more of the same he’d received in Rochester—good, but needs amending.

September 8 Tuesday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote Sam that “A True Story” was to be published in the Atlantic; he thought it “extremely good” [MTHL 1: 24].

September 9 Wednesday – Pamela Moffett would have had time to answer Sam’s rather harsh Sept. 4 letter about her son, Sammy Moffett. From Elmira, Sam offered salve and explained his thinking, though he remained critical of “giddy mothers & unwise teachers.”

September 10 Thursday – Sam and Livy, together with Clara Spaulding, left Elmira for New York City for a ten-day stay. They checked into the Hoffman House, one of the most elegant hotels in the city, two blocks from the Park Theatre where Sam planned to direct rehearsals for the Sept. 16 opening of the Gilded Age play [Powers, MT A Life 358].

September 12 Saturday – Sam wrote from New York to Dr. Rachel B. Gleason, proprietor of the Elmira Water Cure who had consulted with Livy about her condition. Gleason gave treatments for profuse menstruation, which Livy evidently suffered from. Sam asked if Gleason would “write & tell a reliable lady physician here to come to the hotel & administer” Gleason’s treatments [MTL 6: 231].

September 16 Wednesday – The Gilded Age; Colonel Sellers Play opened at the Park Theatre, New York City with John T. Raymond in the leading role of Col. Mulberry Sellers, a part which he had already played in Densmore’s adaptation. The play was a popular success and would achieve a remarkable run of 119 New York performances [Walker, Phillip 186].

September 17 Thursday – Andrew Carpenter Wheeler of the New York World published a lengthy criticism of the Gilded Age play in his “Amusements” column. While not unrestrained praise, the play was certainly a hit and the criticism positive [MTL 6: 643 for text of review]. The New York Herald wrote: