Day By Day Dates

December 1 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Chatto & Windus, thanking them for checks amounting to $6,000 for sales of A Tramp Abroad. Sam wrote that he was surprised by the “largeness of sale in the United States,” which he said brought the total to $50,000 he would get out of the book for twelve-months sales, from Mar. 1, 1880 [MTLE 5: 218].

Bills/receipts/statements from Hartford merchants:

December 2 Thursday – Orion Clemens wrote from Keokuk to Sam.

December 3 Friday – The Jan. 1, 1881 bill from Atlantic & Pacific Telegraph Co. shows a telegram sent to New York (party unknown, see that entry for others).

December 4 Saturday – Bill paid to Connecticut Valley R.R. Co., Hartford $1.22 for transporting “2 cases liquor; 1 box” [MTP]. The December bill from Western Union shows a telegram sent to New York, recipient unspecified (see Dec. 31 entry).

December 6 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Henry Clay Lukens of the New York Press Club, declining another invitation. Sam wrote he was “booked for that day” [MTLE 5: 219].

Woolley’s Livery Stable bill of Jan. 2? Shows use of a hack this day for two and a quarter hours, $2.75 [MTP].

December 7 Tuesday – C.F. Cobb (“Squid”) wrote to Sam. “The undersigned took the liberty to send you three sketches: Row in a Row, Pulling the Classical Wire, and the hit at a very general musical nuisance.” Cobb described how his father had worked as a clerk for 60 years then died leaving him “a large estate” though Cobb didn’t change his style of living [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “From one who signs himself ‘Squid’ ”

December 8 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Mollie Clemens. He enclosed either a drawing or a model of a pig. “Fortunately the first attempt succeeded sufficiently well; I doubt if I could blind my eyes again & bring the ears on top of the head after traveling so far from the initial point.” Evidently, Mollie had written that Orion was spending an inordinate amount of time writing. Sam offered:

December 9 Thursday – Sam’s humorous note to Childhood’s Appeal ran in that publication [MTLE 5: 213]. (See Nov. 30 entry.)

Charles Perkins wrote to Sam about Bissell & Co. offering an attractive investment at a “very choice 7” percent for a loan of $5,000 [MTNJ 2: 379n68]. Sam bought in.

December 10 Friday – Sam’s sketch, “For Struggling Young Poets,” dated Nov. 17, 1880 ran in the Dec. 10 issue of the Buffalo Bazaar Bulletin [MTLE 5: 198-200]. It was reprinted in the Buffalo Express on Dec. 11 and in the Hartford Courant in an article titled, “Mark Twain’s Poem” on Dec. 13, p2. Excerpt:

December 11 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to his sister, Pamela Moffett, sending $25 for Christmas gifts for “Annie & her family.” Livy was “pretty thoroughly taxed” Sam wrote. “Jean is as fat as a watermelon, & just as sweet & good, & often just as wet” [MTLE 5: 224].

December 12 Sunday – Mollie and Orion Clemens wrote to Sam and Livy about memories of Susy and Jennie, and joy that baby Jean was flourishing [MTP].

December 13 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to James R. Osgood. Sam placed a small order for two books and added,

“I’ve accepted invitation for supper in N.Y. midnight, 20th —they said you & Howells & Aldrich would be there” [MTLE 5: 225].

Sam’s “Letter to the Bazaar Bulletin” for a charity event in Buffalo, was reprinted in the Hartford Courant [Camfield, bibliog.].

December 16 Thursday – Sam had received Howells’ letter of Dec. 13 praising “The Two Ps.” [P&P]. Howells liked it “immensely. It begins well, and it ends well” [MTHL 2: 338]. Sam wrote from Hartford to James R. Osgood.

December 17 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Orion, sending $25 for Christmas gifts for him and Mollie. Livy wouldn’t know what to select, he said, and “this seems the best & simplest way.” He wrote:

“The pig matter is of no consequence—only, I perceive that when one deceives people as often as I have done, there comes a time when he is not believed when he does tell the truth” [MTLE 5: 229].

December 18 Saturday – Arnold, Constable & Co. of New York invoiced Sam $10 for one cashmere rug [MTP].

December 19 Sunday – **Ajax from Baltimore wrote an over-the-top crank letter asking for help publishing [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “The same old thing. / Man wants to know the royal road, & would like help”

December 20 Monday – Sam traveled with Twichell to New York City, arriving in the evening. They had a midnight oyster supper at the Tile Club, Francis Hopkinson Smith Studio, where Sam first met Francis Hopkinson Smith (1838-1915) [MTNJ 2: 360; AMT 2: 580]. Smith was an engineer and a writer whose hobby was painting.

December 21 Tuesday – Sam introduced Joe Twichell to General Grant, so he might have a “private talk in the interest of the Chinese Educational Mission here in the U.S.” (Hartford). Saving the mission was a cause close to the heart of Twichell (see Mar.15, 1881 entry). Note: Grant wrote to Li Hung Chang in the Chinese government, arguing that closing the mission would be an error.

December 22 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to David Watt Bowser (“Wattie”) in Dallas, Texas, who had written that he’d won a gold medal for his paper. Sam asked Wattie to “remember me kindly to your teacher [Laura Wright Dake]” [MTLE 5: 231].

December 24 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Frank Bliss to order several books for the Camoēns Library in Portugal as a contribution, in care of the Consul General of Portugal in New York City [MTLE 5: 223].

December 25 Saturday – Christmas – Sam purchased two tickets for La Morte Civile (The Civil Death) starring the Italian actor Tommaso Salvini (1829-1915), which played one night, Thursday, Dec. 30 [Hartford Courant, Dec. 27 p2. “This Week’s Entertainments”]. Note: from 1873 to 1889 Salvini made five trips to the U.S.

December 26 Sunday – Bohun Devereaux wrote to ask Sam’s views on dramatic copyright [MTP].

John Russell Young wrote from Hartford hoping to visit the Clemenses. His home had been Phila. since returning from Europe. House & Koto had “charged” him with “special messages to Mrs. Clemens and yourself” [MTP]. Note: very tiny hand

December 27 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to James R. Osgood in reference to a manuscript [MTLE 5: 241].

Sam purchased a suit from Geeley’s Wardrobe,  “Mens’ and boy’s clothing,” Hartford, for $6.50; paid Jan. 27, 1881 [MTP]. Note: Henry Geeley is listed as a clothier in the 1875 City Directory.

December 28 Tuesday – William A. Seaver wrote to Clemens. “My precious old bird: — / Haven’t you got a place for bores, loafers and snobs in Hartford called a Club? … I am twisting my wits to get stuff enough together to do a little article on Clubs, and would like to ring in Hartford” [MTP].

December 29 Wednesday – Sam declined an invitation from the Press Club of Chicago, writing from Hartford that the “formidable size of the trip in this mid-winter weather” would bar him from attending. He hoped they remembered him as well as he did them [MTLE 5: 242].