Day By Day Dates

February 21 Tuesday – From Hartford, Sam typed a letter to Lieutenant Charles Wood at West Point. Wood had mentioned “Miss Terese Blackburn, a charming Kentucky schoolgirl,” who was anxious for a “genuine talk” with Mark Twain.

February 22 Wednesday – In Hartford, Sam inscribed a portrait of himself to an unidentified person: “There isn’t any merit in doing a thing which it is a pleasure to do: & therefore none is claimed by / Ys Truly / SL. Clemens / (Mark Twain) / Hartford, Feb. 22, 1882” [MTP].

February 23 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Edward House. Koto left her shawl behind and Livy was getting it ready to mail as Sam typed the letter.

February 24 Friday – Sam gave a reading at Twichell’s Asylum Hill Congregational Church, Hartford, Reported in Hartford Courant, Feb. 25, page 3: “Additional City News” [Schmidt].

February 25 Saturday – Christian Tauchnitz, Jr. wrote: “Accept my best thanks for your amiable letter of the 18th of January…” He’d paid £75 on Dec. 5 to Chatto & Windus for the right to publish P&P on the continent, and asked about the binding Sam preferred [MTP]. Note in file: “SLC replies to this on 30 March 1882 (see Tauchnitz to SLC, 15 April 1882) / Postmark on back of envelope may be Feb 25”

February 26 Sunday – Charles H. Clark for Hartford Courant wrote to ask Sam’s advice. He’d been invited by a friend in London to join him for 4 or 5 weeks. Clark had never been abroad. Did Clemens think he might get some work done on board? [MTP]. Note: this may be on the Encyclopedia Of Humor

February 27 Monday – Mrs. Richard H. Jones wrote from N. Orleans to ask for Sam’s autograph. Much of the letter is faded out [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Gee Whillikers!”

February 28 Tuesday – Karl Gerhardt wrote to Sam and Livy of his progress at school [MTP].

Worden & Co. Sent a statement showing a balance of $13,682.53 [MTP].

March – On a copy of John Bunyan’s (1622-1688) The Pilgrim’s Progress (Chinese), Sam inscribed: “Sent from Bangkok Siam by H.R.H. the Rajah of Ambong and Morocco in the Island of Borneo. This prince is a full-blooded Yankee, and was born in Boston. Hartford, March, 1882” [Gribben 112]. Note: This book sent by Joseph William Torrey as per Torrey’s of Jan. 1, 1882.

March 1 Wednesday – William T. Hamersley was company at the Clemens home [Letter of Mar. 2. to Webster].

Charles Ethan Porter wrote from Paris, France, where he frequently met with the Gerhardts [MTP].

Hubbard & Farmer sent a statement showing a credit to Sam of $12,775 [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Account squared & discontinued”; the account continued on, however, so he changed his mind.

March 2 Thursday – From Hartford, Sam typed a letter to Charles Webster that he’d asked Hamersley the night before “if the $25000.00 had been raised” for the Paige typesetter investment; Hamersley answered that it had and that “the work perfecting the machine was proceeding.” Sam also mentioned that he’d seen the man “half a dozen times within the last month” and “never exchanged a word about that matter….” He added that he didn’t want to buy any more stock from the 

March 3 Friday – Sam was still typing letters. He typed one from Hartford to Andrew Chatto thanking him for requested English reviews of P&P. “They are surprisingly complimentary” [MTNJ 2: 449n41].

Sam also wrote a short note to John W. Sanborn, probably answering his Feb. 18 letter:

March 4 Saturday – Howells arrived at Sam’s for a two-day visit to collaborate on a play, a lecture tour, a book of travel and the encyclopedia of humor proposal [MTHL 1: 392n1].

Sam wrote from Hartford to James R. Osgood, obviously in a good mood and practicing dialect.

March 6 Monday – William Dean Howells returned to Boston [MTHL 1: 392n1].

Sam telegraphed from Hartford to John Russell Young. Sam had written to General Grant for a favor of keeping Howells’ father in his Toronto consulate position. He asked Young to get Grant’s answer and write or send him a telegram, saving Grant the bother [MTP].

March 7 Tuesday – Karl & Hattie J. Gerhardt wrote to Sam and Livy, thrilled with a letter just rec’d from the Clemenses. More about progress on their studies [MTP]. Note: dated Mar. 8 but postmarked 7th.

March 8 Wednesday – George P. Bissell wrote with a Bradstreet’s report on the Am. Bank Note Co., which he highly recommended [MTP].

Hooker & Co. wrote a short Note: “Your telegram just received. We will put the carriage in the works immediately and push it forward to completion as fast as possible” [MTP].

March 9 Thursday – Sam took a train to New York, where he met Howells. The two men checked into the Hotel Brunswick [MTNJ 2: 451n54; N.Y. Times Mar. 10 p.8].

Clarence E. Ash (ca. 1861-1897) in Sioux City, Ia. sent a pre-printed autograph seeking card, spelling Clemens with two ‘m’s [MTP].

March 10 Friday – At noon, Sam saw Ulysses S. Grant at 2 Wall Street in New York, hoping to prevent President Arthur from replacing William Dean Howells’ father, William Cooper Howells as U.S. consul at Toronto. Shortly after this day, Grant assured Sam that Howells would keep the post [MTNJ 2: 450n47].

March 11 Saturday – Arnold, Constable & Co., New York, billed Sam $19.78 for “blankets, gloves, lace, ruffling”; paid Mar. 16 [MTP].

James R. Osgood wrote (Edward B. Dickinson to Osgood Mar. 10 enclosed): “You see by the enclosed that Dickinson cannot go. I have written asking him if he can recommend any one” [MTP]. Note: Sam was looking for a stenographer to go on the Miss. River trip.

March 13 Monday – Sam’s mother, Jane Clemens, and his sister, Pamela Moffett, arrived in Hartford to visit Sam, Livy and the children. They stayed until Apr. 8 [MTHL 1: 393]. Note: MTNJ 2: 457n81 puts the end of the visit at Apr. 7.

March 14 Tuesday – Sam typed a note from Hartford to Frank Fuller, about missing him in New York on his recent trip. Their relationship had been rather vacant since the “steam-generator” fiasco of 1877, when Sam lost $5,000. It’s not clear who re-initiated contact. (See also Mar. 23 entry.)

March 15 Wednesday – Hartford schoolteacher, Roswell H. Phelps, visited Sam to apply for stenographer on the upcoming trip to the Mississippi. Negotiations for salary took place. Phelps may have shown Sam some fundamentals of shorthand, because there are several practice pages of shorthand from this period in Sam’s notebook [MTNJ 2: 453n59].

In Boston, Howells wrote Sam:

March 16 Thursday – After meeting with Sam, Roswell H. Phelps, after conferring with his boss at the Continental Ins. Co., Hartford, outlined in a letter his acceptable conditions for his employment as a stenographer. “Suppose we make it at the rate of $100. per month and all expenses for the time I am actually absent from this office?” [MTP]. These must have been acceptable because Sam quickly agreed and wrote Webster on Mar. 20 of his choice [MTNJ 2: 517].

March 18 Saturday – John Russell Young wrote thanks for Sam’s congratulations on his consulship. Young preferred Japan but bowed to Grant’s “superior and supreme judgment.” He was going to Washington on Tuesday but would still like to visit Sam [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Jno Russell Young / U.S. Minister to China.”

March 19 Sunday – Susy Clemens’ tenth birthday.

Charles B. Paine (8 yr. Old boy in Hallowell, Me.) sent a pre-printed invitation for an autograph [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “No”

William D. Howells wrote  [MTP].