Day By Day Dates

May 19 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Charles Webster, telling him he’d sold the Oregon & Transcontinental stock at 12 dollars; asking him for a copy of Rubayat by Omar Khayam published by Osgood, and that Osgood was about to sail for Europe, so “get everything squared up before he leaves” [MTP].

May 20 Tuesday – Willard C. Gompf for Connecticut Fire Ins. Co. wrote to Clemens, “yours of the 19th inst. is at hand. Of course we are sorry that you do not ‘talk’ now,” and they invited him to their meeting of writers to talk [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “answered”

May 21 Wednesday – Charles Langdon replied in NYC to Sam’s May 17 telegram: “Your message of the seventeenth to C.J. Kingdon has just accidentally fallen into my hands. I shall be here tomorrow. Start for home Saturday” [MTP]. Note: the name errors were ascribed to the telegram being sent by telephone.

May 22 Thursday – Charles Webster wrote to Clemens twice. First note enclosed John T. Raymond’s answer; Howells’ success in placing the play in Boston; how many cloth books should he contract? And how many in sheets? Second note: Crown Point trip & stock; working to settle with Osgood; paper costs; advised not to invest in stocks but in mortgages: “with all this scare here in N.Y.

May 23 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Edward House. Commenting on an old controversy about who wrote a book Bread-Winners, Sam remarked:

      Gott im Himmel! I would delight to live in Japan; for my idea of heaven itself is a place where all the issues are dead ones, & no man, not even the angels, cares a damn.

May 24 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford, the last extant business letter to James R. Osgood. He’d received the sketches left out of The Stolen White Elephant. Though business had ended between the two men with Sam forming his own publishing company with Charles Webster, friendly relations continued, as evidenced by the sharing of Sam’s off-color story, 1601.

“I have mailed you a 1601; but mind, if it is for a lady you are to assume the authorship of it yourself.

May 26 Monday – In Boston, Howells responded to Sam’s May 24 letter and called Belton O’Neall Townsend “That incredible wretch” and his poetry “trash.” Howells had printed some good prose articles by Townsend in 1877 and 1878 [MTHL 2: 489].

Arthur B. Deming wrote from Kirtland, Ohio about “discovering” laws of heredity in the Bible [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Rot”

May 27 Tuesday – Sam wrote for Livy to Isabella B. Hooker. “I write in Livy’s place because I am idle for the moment & she is very busy.” Isabella had asked the Clemenses in a May 3 letter to support her suffrage program, and had solicited other Nook Farm support. She wrote:

May 28 Wednesday – In Boston, Howells wrote to Sam, sending paper dolls and “a few colored pictures” for the Clemens girls made by his daughter Mildred (Pilla) Howells (1872-1966) [MTHL 2: 490].

Bissell & Co. wrote to Clemens advised of purchase 200 shs of Union Pacific @ 39 ¼ [MTP].

May 29 Thursday – Charles Webster wrote to Clemens: 20,000 cloth books binding ordered, a splendid bargain at 17.5¢ each with Robert Rutter; cost estimates for new book; Kemble’s pictures [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Pub details for Huck”

Bissell & Co.  wrote to advise sale of 50 shares of Adams Express at 128 [MTP].

May 31 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Charles Webster, praising the contracts for paper and printing he’d made on Huckleberry Finn. “If we had had such on those other books I would have come out a good deal better.” Sam felt the project of the cheap book (1002d Arabian Night) had been delayed too long, and gave Webster “one solid day” to “catch that American News manager,” probably an agent who would sell/distribute the work.

June 1 Sunday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Howells asking how much the New York Sun and other papers paid him for a story. Charles Dana, editor/owner of the Sun, wrote on May 8 asking for “two or three short pieces not exceeding ten or twenty thousand words apiece” [MTHL 2: 490].

June 2 Monday – In Boston, Howells wrote to Sam about selling one of his plays to Richard A. Dana of the New York Sun. He also mentioned Edgar W. Howe’s novel, The Story of a Country Town, which he and Sam had praised. Howe was the editor of the Atchison Globe.

June 3 Tuesday – Annie M. Barnes for Acanthus Magazine wrote to Sam; a begging letter asking his autograph on a blank check so she might fund her printing office [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “This offers me beggar again”

Hattie J. Gerhardt wrote to Clemens & Livy, two photos enclosed.

June 4 Wednesday – Charles Webster wrote to Sam: Mr. Williams, Gen. Mgr of American News (book agent) wanted to see a HF dummy before committing to a number to sell [MTP].

June 6 Friday – In the afternoon, Sam played billiards with Sam Dunham, Franklin Whitmore, Henry Robinson, Charles Perkins, and Edward Bunce, while George Griffin, the butler, received telephone updates and announced ballots from the Chicago Republican convention. In mid-afternoon, James G. Blaine won the nomination on the fourth ballot. Connecticut’s twelve delegates cast their votes for favorite son, Joseph R.

June 7 or 14 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to their ailing family doctor, Cincinnatus A. Taft, offering for him to be carried on a water bed to their home to escape the “cannon, the brass bands & shouting, & the other noisy harassments of Buckingham Day.” The family was leaving on June 17 but would “gladly & cheerfully” stay if “our staying can be also of service” [MTP].

June 8 Sunday – Clara Clemens’ tenth birthday.

Sam wrote in German to Edward K. Root. Translated by Sotheby’s:

June 10 Tuesday – Charles A. Dana for the New York Sun wrote to suggest Sam write 16 or 18 thousand words, which would allow them to divide it into two parts; or two stories [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Wants 2 stories or 18000 words”

June 11 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Charles Webster, shipping back Kemble’s pictures for Huck Finn. After modifications, Sam thought, “this batch of pictures is most rattling good,” and only wanted one removed—“the lecherous old rascal kissing the girl at the campmeeting.” Sam didn’t want any pictures of the campmeeting—“The subject won’t bear illustrating” [MTP].

June 12 Thursday ca. – Sam wrote from Hartford to Charles Webster, inserting a note from Mettie Curry of Carson City, Nevada, pleading poverty and asking for a copy of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Sam directed him to write her a note saying Sam had instructed him to send the book [MTP]. Note: This is probably Abraham Curry’s widow.

June 13 Friday – Hugo Erichsen in Detroit, Mich. sent a printed form asking what was Sam’s method of authorship [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “O, hell!”; Sam resisted any explanation of how he wrote, of the motivations of characters, and the like. He did not like to share such introspections or methods and felt they were unwarranted intrusions of his privacy.

June 17 Tuesday – The Clemens family’s annual trek to Elmira and Quarry Farm began. They left Hartford and traveled to New York City, where they spent the night [MTNJ 3: 55n124].

June 18 Wednesday – The Clemens family had escaped Hartford just in time. June 18 in Hartford was Buckingham Day, a local civic celebration for Union veterans. From the Hartford Courant:

June 22 Sunday – Karl Gerhardt wrote to Sam & Livy about shipping a statuette [MTP].