Day By Day Dates

August 23 Saturday – James B. Pond wrote from Cottage City, Mass. The circular “brings hundreds of inquiries. All my letters are about Clemens & Cable” [MTP].

August 24 Sunday – Sam wrote from Elmira to George Iles, Montreal editor:

“I am on the warpath next winter, with George W. Cable—that is to say, on the platform. Therefore I dasn’t accept your & the Snowshoe Club’s kind invitation, for I shan’t know for some time, yet, whether my route is going to carry me through Montreal during the Carnival or not…” [MTP].

August 30 Saturday – Charles Webster wrote to Clemens: “It seems impossible to make any arrangement whereby the other Gen. Agts. Can sell ‘Huck Finn’ and ‘Tom Sawyer’ together, at a reduced price…” [MTP].

August 31 Sunday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Howells, thanking him “ever so much for reading that batch of the proof.” Sam regretted that he’d not be able to attend the first night of Howells’ opera A Sea-Change in November, due to his readings with Cable that were to begin “about Nov. 5” [MTP; MTHL 2: 500n6]. Howells wrote on Aug.

September 1 Monday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Charles Webster. Frank Bliss had offered terms too difficult for Sam’s plan of offering a discount for a paired sale of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, so Sam commented that the “question appears to answer itself.” The Frank Coker News Co. of Talledega, Ala. had been running ads for Mark Twain books in Frank Leslie’s News

September 2 Tuesday – Charles Webster wrote twice to Clemens [MTP]. (financial statements enclosed) [MTP].

September 3 Wednesday – Susy and Clara Clemens were accosted by a “drunken ruffian” down the road from Quarry Farm. The man “drew a revolver” on them but they managed to escape. See Sam’s Sept. 7 & Sept. 15 to Howells [MTP].

Charles Webster wrote to Clemens: about Howells and the Col. Sellers play, scene changes, final speech, etc [MTP].

September 4 Thursday – William Dean Howells responded to Sam’s letter of Aug. 31 about the candidacies of Blaine and Cleveland. He did not share Sam’s perspective.

      I shall vote for Blaine. I do not believe he is guilty of the things they accuse him of; and I know they are not proved against him.

September 5 Friday – Sam wrote a short note from Elmira to Charles Webster about the furnace bill. He also directed Webster not to go away “without first completing my contract with Pond” [MTP].

Sam then wrote a longer letter to Webster about stock sales, and not being able to re-write the new Sellers play even though Raymond’s suggestions were good [MTP].

September 6 Saturday – Charles Webster wrote to Clemens: Am. Exchange stock issue resolved—error in the London office & Sam would get his full dividend; he had no copy of the Seller’s play & Howells had only an “imperfect copy”; should he draw up a contract with Raymond? [MTP].

Jeannette L. Gilder for The Critic wrote to ask Clemens to contribute for their series of sketches—could they send someone to interview him? [MTP].

September 7 Sunday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Howells, upset about a:

“…drunken ruffian who has been a trouble to our neighboring farmers for a couple of years & who drew a revolver on Susie & Clara last Wednesday when they were down the road a piece & without a protector” [MTP].

September 8 Monday – Sam wrote a short note from Elmira to George Iles, the Canadian editor.

“You have my best thanks; & when Pond has fixed my dates I will drop you a line; & shall hope that they fall as you have suggested” [MTP].

September 9 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Charles Webster, sending what he thought looked like a bill for “more hellfired statuary.” Gerhardt had “just gone to Philadelphia. I wish it was in hell. / If this is a bill, step in there & pay it. It looks like a bill” [MTP]. Gerhardt had made the trip to cast the bust in bronze (Sept. 16 to Twichell).

September 10 Wednesday – Sam wrote Buffalo Bill Cody: “I have now seen your Wild West show two days in succession, and have enjoyed it thoroughly. It brought back vividly the breezy, wild life of the great plains, and the Rocky Mountains and stirred me like a war song” [MTP].

George W. Cable wrote to Clemens that he was leaving for Saratoga where he would read there the following day. On Friday he would return to Simsbury ready to meet Sam & Livy. “We shall greet you with a hurrah” [MTP].

September 11 Thursday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Karl Gerhardt, advising him to let some unspecified matter “wait till another time.” Livy was “sick, & we may be here 10 or 12 days yet” [MTP]. Note: the matter to wait might have been Gerhardt’s bill, which upset Clemens on Sept. 9.

A. Edwards, Hartford billed and receipted Sam $25 for “Pasturing 1 pr. Horses 10 weeks at $2.50 pr week” [MTP].

September 12 Friday – In Boston, Howells wrote to Sam having finished Sellers final speech, though he wasn’t “proud of it.” Some bad news about his opera, the manager had fallen and died getting on his yacht and Howells didn’t “know whether it will go on or not” [MTHL 2: 505]. Note: the opera was A Sea-Change and was finally performed in 1929, nine years after Howells’ death, by the BBC.

September 13 Saturday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Charles Webster.

“The bust was made in Elmira & is just finished. The photos were taken here & I have the negatives myself. But do nothing in the matter unless you find advantage for us in it. —I thought it would advantage the book” [MTP].

Charles Webster wrote twice on various business matters [MTP].

September 14 Sunday – James B. Pond wrote to Clemens [MTP].

September 15 Monday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Charles Webster. John T. Raymond had backed out of doing the new Sellers play. The heliotype was acceptable to Sam at a cost of two cents each. Livy had been:

“…sick—is sick—& will not be able to travel for a week or ten days yet. Keep the Sellers play in your safe until I am done with the platform—then I will send for it & turn it into a novel” [MTP].

September 16 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Joe Twichell, who evidently had written recently.

On the contrary, the summer has been lost time to me. I spent several weeks in the dental chair, coming down the hill every day for the purpose; then I made a daily trip during several more weeks to a doctor to be treated for catarrh & have my palate burnt off. The remnant of the season I wasted in ineffectual efforts to work. I haven’t a paragraph to show for my summer.

September 17 Wednesday – Sam wrote two letters to Howells. Even though Howells wrote on Sept. 15 and had not commented on Sam’s opinion of Blaine and Cleveland, Sam didn’t let the subject go.

September 19 Friday – The contract with James Pond for the readings tour with George Cable was signed. The tour was to run from Nov. 5, 1884 through the end of Feb. 1885 [MTNJ 3: 60n143]. Sam wrote a list of possible readings in his notebook before this date.

Charles Webster wrote to Clemens: Pond contract signed; bust photo for HF, other misc. [MTP].

September 20 Saturday – In Elmira Sam wrote to James B. Pond.

“I & the family will arrive at the Brunswick on Tuesday evening. I will talk to you about the lithograph & learn the proposed size & style of it. This is necessary for Mrs. Clemens is dead opposed to it; & if she remains so, that’ll end it.”

September 21 Sunday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Karl Gerhardt, giving permission for him to “go ahead & put the medallion-children in marble” for an exhibition. Sam expected to reach New York City on Thursday evening, Sept. 25 and Hartford on Friday, Sept. 26 [MTP]. Note: Sam was still in Elmira on Wednesday, Sept.

September 23 Tuesday – An envelope only survives from Elmira to Karl Gerhardt [MTP].

The Clemens family (without Sam) left Quarry Farm for New York City [MTNJ 3: 57n128]. They stayed at the Brunswick Hotel. Sam stayed behind a day and then went to Philadelphia incognito (see Sept. 24 entry).