Day By Day Dates

Day by Day entries are from Mark Twain, Day By Day, four volumes of books compiled by David Fears and made available on-line by the Center for Mark Twain Studies.  The entries presented here are from conversions of the PDFs provided by the Center for Mark Twain Studies and are subject to the vagaries of that process.    The PDFs, themselves, have problems with formatting and some difficulties with indexing for searching.  These are the inevitable problems resulting from converting a printed book into PDFs.  Consequently, what is provided here are copies of copies.  

I have made attempts at providing a time-line for Twain's Geography and have been dissatisfied with the results.  Fears' work provides a comprehensive solution to that problem.  Each entry from the books is titled with the full date of the entry, solving a major problem I have with the On-line site - what year is the entry for.  The entries are certainly not perfect reproductions from Fears' books, however.  Converting PDFs to text frequently results in characters, and sometimes entire sections of text,  relocating.  In the later case I have tried to amend the problem where it occurs but more often than not the relocated characters are simply omitted.  Also, I cannot vouch for the paragraph structure.  Correcting these problems would require access to the printed copies of Fears' books.  Alas, but this is beyond my reach.

This page allows the reader to search for entries based on a range of dates.  The entries are also accessible from each of the primary sections (Epochs, Episodes and Chapters) of Twain's Geography.  

Entry Date (field_entry_date)

March 3, 1883 Saturday

March 3 Saturday – The New York Times under “PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE” p.5 reported:

Samuel L. Clemens, of Hartford, and James R. Osgood, of Boston, are at the Victoria House 

The Brooklyn Eagle, on page 7 under “EVENTS IN BROOKLYN” / Summary of the Week’s Local News

The trial of Captain C.C. Duncan’s suit for $100,000 against the New York Times was begun in the Supreme Court.

March 5, 1883 Monday 

March 5 Monday  At the opening of the Guelph Club for billiards in New York, Sam introduced the great French billiards player, Maurice Vignaux and several other players, including George F. Slosson, Joseph Dion, and William Sexton, for an exhibition warm up match anticipating a large tournament in Chicago later in the month [N.Y. Times Mar.

March 7, 1883 Wednesday

March 7 Wednesday – According to the Brooklyn Eagle, p. 7, “Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain) testified in the libel suit of Captain C.C. Duncan against the New York Times.” Since Sam’s letter of Mar. 9 to Cable referred to a Mar. 8 meeting with Charles Dudley Warner in Hartford, it’s likely that Sam returned from New York either on the evening of Mar.

March 8, 1883 Thursday 

March 8 Thursday – In the evening after receiving a letter from Roswell Smith, editor and president of Century Magazine, Sam and Charles Dudley Warner discussed how to set up a trial lecture for George W. Cable in Hartford [Mar. 9 to Cable, MTP].

March 9, 1883 Friday

March 9 Friday  Sam wrote from Hartford responding to English writer George MacDonald’s letter suggesting a collaborative scheme for protecting against literary piracy. If Sam would write a few short paragraphs for MacDonald’s forthcoming novel then both writers’ names would guarantee copyrights in both countries. Sam politely offered the idea would make sense only if each could do half; but he had no time for such a team effort.

March 10, 1883 Saturday

March 10 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to George W. Cable, making a formal announcement from a list of leading Hartford citizens, which included Sam and Charles Dudley Warner, Joseph R. Hawley, J. Hammond Trumbull, Richard D. Hubbard (1818-1884), Austin C. Dunham, Edwin Pond Parker, James B. Patterson, William B. Franklin, Joseph H. Twichell, Henry C. Robinson, William Hamersley, A.E. Burt, Edwin E. Johnson, N. Shipman [MTP].

March 12, 1883 Monday

March 12 Monday – “Mark Twain” by H.R. Haweis, in the Elzevir Library, was a biography and criticism which argued though Sam built a reputation as a humorist, he should be taken seriously; emphasized his travel writings [Tenney, Supplement American Literary Realism, Autumn 1980 p170]. See also Feb. 12.

March 13, 1883 Tuesday 

March 13 Tuesday – William H. Gillette wrote of expenses with the play The Professor and being unable to repay Sam the $3000, hoping he’d be “a little easy on time payments.” The play was making money, but comedy-farces didn’t play for more than three seasons [MTP].

Jane Lampton Clemens wrote to the Clemens family about attending a fun party the night before. She added a note on the 16th[MTP].

March 14, 1883 Wednesday

March 14 Wednesday – In Hartford Sam typed a letter to Benjamin H. Ticknor about a telegram he’d sent on the cut he wanted replaced in LM. Put in any sort of picture, even if it didn’t connect with the text and make sure it wasn’t funny, Sam wrote. A landscape would do, Sam thought and:

“…the reader can put in such idle time as he may have in trying to arrive at the connection…” [MTP].

March 16, 1883 Friday

March 16 Friday – Jane Lampton Clemens added to her letter of Mar. 13. “Now the weather is good and I wish to come to your house, if it suits you. I can do as you said pay Orion’s way there & home again” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Answer”

W.G. Watson wrote to ask if he could see Sam “on very important business (to me) for about 15 minutes” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Watson the tramp”

March 20, 1883 Tuesday 

March 20 Tuesday – In New York City, Sam and Livy took Charles and Annie Webster and attended a special matinee performance of Herr Barnay at the Thalia Theater, “to which only members of the profession were invited.”

BARNAY IN FARCE AND TRAGEDY.

A PERFORMANCE FOR THE PLEASURE OF HIS PROFESSIONAL BRETHREN

March 22, 1883 Thursday

March 22 Thursday – They arrived back in Hartford in the evening. Charles Dudley Warner “dropped in” after they arrived home and suggested that George W. Cable give the same reading in Hartford he successfully gave in Baltimore, instead of the planned lecture on “Creole Women.” Sam felt it would be “safer” to give a reading that had proven successful elsewhere [Mar. 23 to Cable, MTP].

March 23, 1883 Friday 

March 23 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Charles Webster, enclosing a letter of interest in the Paige typesetter.

“So I thought that if you and [William] Payton should run up here together and examine the machine, it would help these people to remember the terms upon which they can be applied to those New York men for capital” [MTBus 212].

March 25, 1883 Sunday 

March 25 Sunday – In the Mar. 26 letter to the Gerhardts, Sam referred to this morning as Livy passing “the danger point” in her recent illness [MTP].

The following classified ad ran on page 5 of the Brooklyn Eagle:

Agents Wanted

March 26, 1883 Monday 

March 26 Monday – Sam sent a telegram from Hartford to George W. Cable, verifying the upcoming lecture date as Apr. 4 on “Creole Women” while working in the Baltimore reading. Sam added that Livy was “out of danger” [MTP].

March 27, 1883 Tuesday

March 27 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to George W. Cable, who had written asking if a particular engagement would interfere with the planned trip and reading in Hartford. Sam telegraphed that it would not, but advised him to:

March 30, 1883 Friday 

March 30 Friday – Sam’s letter to the editor ran on page two of the Hartford Courant under the headline “George W. Cable”:

Of the evening of the fourth of April the gifted southerner whose name appears above, will deliver at Unity Hall, in Hartford, a lecture upon “Creole Women,” sauced with illustrative readings from “The Grandissimes” and other of his books [Courant.com].

March 31, 1883 Saturday 

March 31 Saturday – In Hartford, Sam typed a letter to Charles Webster, conveying Livy’s apologies for not saying a proper goodbye to Annie after the opera in New York. Sam wrote that the “type setter company are going to have a meeting next week, April 4th.

April 1883

April – Sam wrote a maxim on stationery of the Alpha Literary Society, Greenville Ill. to an unidentified person: It is easier—& nearly always more judicious—to tell seven lies than make one explanation…” [MTP]. Note similarity with Apr. 3 to Bellows.

April 1, 1883 Sunday

April 1 Sunday – Mollie and Orion Clemens wrote to Sam & Livy. Orion thanked Sam for the German books sent. They’d written to Kate Lampton to visit when it turned warmer and that Ma would send her tickets both ways. Sorry to hear of Livy’s “danger” but were glad she was better. Mollie urged them to visit [MTP].