Day By Day Dates

May 3 Monday – Christian Tauchnitz wrote from Leipzig. “Many thanks for your kind lines of March 15 and for the proofs of ‘The Tramps Abroad’ ” for which he agreed to pay 700 Marks [MTP].

Chatto & Windus wrote from London. In part:

“Dear Sir / We are on tenterhooks of anxiety for fear of a threatened unauthorised reprint of your ‘Tramp Abroad’ at a shilling, which we shall be powerless to oppose; but by keeping a bold front we hope to scare off intruders and so escape the danger” [MTPO].

May 4 Tuesday – Charles Howard Young wrote from Hartford, Mercier to Young Apr. 4 enclosed from Paris, thanking Sam for his autograph [MTP].

May 5 Wednesday – Sam was invoiced $16.10 by the Put-In-Bay Island Wine Co., in Ohio for a half-barrel (24 & ½ gallons) of red wine. This company advertised N. American native varieties on their invoices: Catawba, Delaware, Norton’s Virginia, Ives, and Concord Grapes. Bill marked paid. Sam had this shipped to Cleveland, probably for the Fairbanks family [MTP].

May 6 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Orion, helping him with his “autobiography.” Sam added “…the elder Bliss has heart disease badly, & henceforth his life hangs upon a thread” [MTLE 5: 97].

May 7 Friday – Sam finished the May 6 letter to Howells. He’d had a telephone call from Warner that Howells could not come to Hartford due to his own trip to Washington, and Sam told him that he was “doing the right thing; when one is short for time, he should be free to alter arrangements with friends, without prejudice or cussedness” –language he claimed, humorously, that Livy used (he often ascribed his language to Livy).

May 8 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Frank Bliss, denying ever having offered a free book to a man named Wood. “The book to Watson is all right. Wood is apparently a bloody fool” [MTLE 5: 100].

Thomas H. Murray wrote from McKinney, Tex. to Sam

May 9 Sunday – Orion wrote from Keokuk, announcing he obtained a position as local news editor on the Keokuk Gate City. He would earn $13 a week to $15 if his work proved satisfactory, and hoped he might get to where he would not need Sam to send any more money. He would still work on his autobiography and send what he could every Monday [MTP].

May 10 Monday – Sam bought a copy of Sir Gibbie, by his British friend, George MacDonald [Gribben 442]. Lindskoog compares Sir Gibbie and Huckleberry Finn, identifying twenty plot elements in common [28]. Sam also purchased Jane Austen’s (1831-1894) Mrs. Beauchamp Brown (1880) from the same bookseller, J.R. Barlow of Hartford for $1.00.

May 12 Wednesday – Sam wrote a short note from Hartford to Orion, who landed an editor position at the Keokuk Gate City newspaper (see May 14 entry). Sam encouraged him in that direction, probably feeling the book would never be publishable, advising him to: “Drop the book & give your entire mind to the newspaper. Concentrate—concentrate. One thing at a time” [MTLE 5: 101].

May 13 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Thomas H. Murray, responding to his May 8 letter. Murray had written about Sam courting Laura Wright. Sam did not mention Laura Wright. He told a story about being approached by an old man in Germany, who claimed he’d once saved Sam and Thomas’ lives on a runaway stage over a precipice. The geezer hit Sam up for ten dollars, which he paid, probably amused.

May 14 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to his mother and sister. He related the advice he’d given to Orion. No holiday planning, Sam further advised, otherwise the Gate City might prefer his “successor” [MTLE 5: 103].

The May 31 bill from Western Union shows a telegram sent to New York, recipient unspecified (see May 31 entry).

May 15 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Edwin Pond Parker (1836-1925). Parker became Pastor of the Second Church of Christ, Hartford, in Jan. 1860. He was Chief Editor of the Book of Praise (Congregational, 1874) and wrote hymns and poetry.

May 16 Sunday – Franklin G. Whitmore wrote from Branford, Conn. to explain about a box sent a few days before—some sort of food to be “broiled over a slow fire” [MTP].

May 17 Monday – The May 31 bill from Western Union shows a telegram sent to New York on this day, recipient unspecified (see May 31 entry) [MTP].

May 18 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Howells, enclosing certain bylaws for a club he wanted to start, the “Modest Club,” which only required modesty to be a member. He was the only member so far, and would Howells like to join? He suggested others for members:

May 19 Wednesday – Orion Clemens wrote to Sam. “My Dear Brother: — / Mollie is agitated by my loss of place, and anxious to go away from where we have been subjected to so much humiliation. If you felt willing to extend to me the same aid as here I would like to go to some city where the chances of getting an editorial situation would be multiplied…” Mollie had no faith in his autobiography—would it be published? [MTP].

May 20 Thursday – Sam rented a hack from Wm. P. Woolley, Hartford livery, to ride to the circus. The Grand London Circus, then played in Hartford. It’s not known if the whole family went or just Sam and the children, but Livy was seven months pregnant, so likely she stayed home (see Oct. 17 for livery bill details). The Hartford Courant reviewed the circus May 21, page 2, and reported:

May 21 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Fanny C. Hesse, his former secretary, sending “Livy’s & mother’s annual $10 fee for S.” Sam related Livy’s confinement to her room and his need to send payment. [MTLE 5: 112].

Sam also responded to an unidentified person’s request for an autograph [113].

May 23 Sunday – In Boston, Howells wrote to Sam about the “Modest Club,” his stay in Washington and the effort for international copyright protections.

May 24 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Congressman Rollin M. Daggett, outlining what steps of punishment a copyright law should take. If not both imprisonment and a fine, the fine ought to be doubled. Ignorance should not be a shield. Sam cited several writers who had been robbed by Canadian publishers, including five editions of Howells’ Lady of the Aroostook. “Now old man, let’s see if Congress will listen to the wail of the distressed” [MTLE 5: 115].

May 25 Tuesday – City of Hartford, John E. Higgins town clerk, receipted Sam $2.15 for dog license for “male dog name Jifi [?]” [MTP].

The Hartford Courant ran a short advertisement for Fatinitza, tickets to be sold May 27 for the comic opera to be performed May 28. See Sam’s purchase of one ticket on May 27 for the May 28 performance.

May 26 Wednesday – Invoiced by James Lidgerwood & Co., fine groceries, New York, 200 Concha cigars $21.70; Bill paid May 29 [MTP]. Sam would have had credit at this and other N.Y. establishments. W.H.

May 27 Thursday – Sam purchased one ticket for a local production of the operetta Fatinitza [MTP receipt from Goodrich & Hawley in 1880 financial file] by Camillo Wälzel (1829-1895), Genée Richard Franz, with music by Franz von Suppé. The first American production took place at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on Apr.

May 28 Friday – Sam attended the operetta Fatinitza at the Hartford Opera House, put on by the Boston Ideal Opera Company. It was a one-night performance unconnected with the New York production cited by Gribben above, as the tickets were not sold until May 27 (the day Sam purchased one), and no further performance is mentioned [Hartford Courant, May 25, 1880 p.2]. From a short review of May 29, page 1, the same paper:

May 29 Saturday – From Twichell’s journal:

“M.T. and I go on a walk to the Tower—the first of the season. A splendid day and lots of talk” [Yale, copy at MTP].

Sam paid Frank M. Wilson & Co., Bridgeport Conn., Tailors and Gents Furnishers, $120.50 for two suits, vest and alterations; He purchased what appears as “flannels” on a bill this date from Arnold, Constable, New York, which was paid June 2 [MTP].