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)

May 26, 1884 Monday

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, 1884 Tuesday 

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, 1884 Wednesday

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, 1884 Thursday

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, 1884 Saturday 

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, 1884 Sunday

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, 1884 Monday

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, 1884 Tuesday

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 6, 1884 Friday 

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, 1884 Saturday

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 10, 1884 Tuesday

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, 1884 Wednesday

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, 1884 Thursday

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, 1884 Friday

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 23, 1884 Monday

June 23 Monday – Charles Webster wrote to Sam, c/o Crane in Elmira: possible postal fine of $50 for sending the prospectus with the words “sheep, half calf, & half morocco, written on the sample bindings”; billed Osgood another $225 for advertising he charged, and a bill for $600 for paper as well; $4,000 needed to buy paper soon—send $6,000 [MTP].

June 24, 1884 Tuesday

June 24 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Charles H. Clark of the Courant. The Clemenses were watching the papers closely but had seen nothing about Doctor Cincinnatus Taft—how was he doing? Sam didn’t want to burden the Taft family by writing [MTP].

June 25, 1884 Wednesday 

June 25 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Charles Webster, correcting a drawing of Kemble’s:

“…on the pilot house of that steamboat-wreck he artist has put TEXAS—having been misled by some of Huck’s remarks about the boat’s ‘texas’—a thing which is part of every boat. ….that particular boat’s name was Walter Scott, I think” [MTP].

June 26, 1884 Thursday 

June 26 Thursday – Homeopathic Doctor Cincinnatus A. Taft died in Hartford at the age of 64. Four decades before he’d been diagnosed with “one lung gone” and given six months to live by two of the best physicians in the country. Taft’s autopsy revealed that his lungs were both perfect, but that he died from a stomach ailment [N.Y. Times, “THE DOCTORS MISTAKEN” June 30 p1].

June 28, 1884 Saturday 

June 28 Saturday – In Elmira, Sam responded to Howells’ request of June 27 for payment of $2,000 on the work he’d done on the Library of Humor. Faced with mounting costs on the production of HF, the first book of Webster & Co., Sam begged off. Besides the financial pinch, Sam was in no mood to be generous.