Day By Day Dates

November 17 Wednesday – In Hartford in the morning, Sam received a letter from Richard Watson Gilder, which led him to write two letters to Charles Webster. In the first letter, Sam begins by referring to Henry Clews, prominent New York banker, who was shopping a book Twenty-Eight Years in Wall Street. Sam had not forgotten being caught short of funds while in Europe during the panic of Sept. 1873.

November 18 Thursday – In Hartford Sam wrote to James B. Pond, who was managing the speaking tour of the renowned journalist and explorer, Henry M. Stanley. Pond sought Sam for an introduction of Stanley, presumably in Hartford.

November 20 Saturday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Henry B. Barnes. Sam’s letter is another of the obvious responses to one not extant. Barnes had invited Sam to speak at the Stationers and Publishers Dinner on Feb. 7, 1887. Sam offered these terms:

November 21 Sunday – Charles Hopkins Clark wrote “Personal” on a note to Sam about the “private and none of my business” libel suit of Albert H. Walker against the Courant. “…if you could see… [the] application ….you’d be cured of all ills that may afflict you.” Clark suggested Sam “could accidentally get her [Mrs. C.D. Warner] to show you” but didn’t wish Sam to say it was his idea [MTP].

November 22 Monday – Henry B. Barnes of the N.Y. publishing house of A.S. Barnes & Co. dictated a typed letter to Sam, thanking him for agreeing to attend the Stationers Board of Trade dinner on the second Tuesday of February (Feb. 8) [MTP].

November 23 Tuesday – The Hartford Courant, p2 “Blackbird Again,” reported:

November 24 Wednesday – Orion Clemens wrote to Sam. Fanning sees Orion suffering from a “deliberate slight” at not being told that Sam was writing Connecticut Yankee. He quotes from the letter:

November 25 Thursday – Thanksgiving – J.M.G. Wood (Jack G. Wood) wrote from White City, La. Wood had sent Sam a sketch; Sam recommended Wood send it to the Century, which he did. “I wish very much to obtain a position with some journal or some literary enterprise.” Sam wrote on the envelope, “Try to get him a literary job” [MTP]. Note: the letter was stamped “Missent” and also postmarked in New London, Conn. See Sept. 8.

November 26 Friday – Sam had heard from Edward H. House that both he and Koto were ill. Sam sent a letter of condolence, adding that to be “homeless at the same time — it is simply hell.” House had requested that Sam be the executor of his will, but this was an obligation Sam didn’t feel comfortable with, so he recommended his business agent, Franklin G. Whitmore. Beyond this, Sam made no direct offer of help, which suggests he may have had reservations about doing so [MTP].

November 27 Saturday – Livy’s 41st birthday.

Charles Webster wrote to Sam “in great haste” enclosing an unspecified check, and would answer Sam’s letter Monday, Nov. 29 (he wrote on Nov. 30) [MTP].

November 29 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote a one-line acknowledgment of Webster & Co.’s check for $10,000.

Sam read a story at an Authors Reading event in New York City [Fatout, MT Speaking 657].

Charles P. Green wrote to Sam [MTP]. Green inscribed and sent Sam John Palmer’s Journal of Travels in the United States of North America, and in Lower Canada,…in 1817 (1818):

November 30 Tuesday – Sam’s 51st Birthday.

In Hartford Sam wrote to James B. Pond, explaining that though they had room for Henry M. Stanley to stay with them while he lectured in Hartford, remodeling made “one of our guest rooms…uninhabitable,” so that Pond would need to stay at a hotel. Sam promised to make up for this with a later invitation for billiards.

December – Karl Gerhardt’s statue of Nathan Hale was ready to be cast in bronze. Sam referred to it in his notebook during this month. It would be installed in the Conn. Capitol building on June 14, 1887 [MTNJ 3: 269n139].

December 1 Wednesday – Charles E. Lewis wrote from Washington, D.C. asking if HF had been dramatized and if was open to negotiating for such a play for a Miss Annie Lewis, an actress who made “a specialty of boys parts.” Miss Lewis was now in an Irish comedy [MTP].

S.C. and L.M. Gould of Notes and Queries with Answers magazine wrote to Sam asking for $1 due and an additional $1 should Sam wish to re-subscribe [MTP].

December 2 Thursday – Arden Smith stopped at Sam’s house in a fifteen minute span when he was returning to the depot to bring a guest back. Sam had left for the wrong train and so went out into a “bitter blizzard” again. Smith, possibly a member of family friends, left this note:

December 3 Friday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Pamela Moffett, irritated by Arden Smith’s missed visit of Dec. 2. He couldn’t remember the man at all, and feared he’d been “an envoy from Ella [Lampton].” Smith was staying at the Allyn House, but Sam refused to go back out into the storm.

December 4 Saturday – In Hartford Sam, per Franklin G. Whitmore, wrote to Charles E. Lewis who had written Dec. 1 asking to negotiate dramatizations of HF. Whitmore replied for Sam that “while the story might be successfully dramatized & the character of Huck well personated by Miss Lewis,” that Sam was not interested [MTP].

December 5 Sunday – The New York Times ran an interesting article, “Banquet Hall Orators” on p.4, which contained a story about Sam and a “joke” played on Senator William M. Evarts:

December 6 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Henry B. Barnes, accepting with his original “terms” to speak at the Stationers’ Board of Trade meeting on Feb. 10, 1887 [MTP]. (See Nov. 20 to Barnes.)

Henry M. Stanley spoke at the Methodist Book Concern in New York to clergymen about missionary work in Africa [NY Times, Dec. 7, 1886, p.12 “Answering the Missionaries”].

December 7 Tuesday – Sam sent $3,000 to the treasurer of the International Telegraph and Cable Co. To pay for stock. William Mackay Laffan recommended this investment, but would, on Oct. 3, 1887, struggle to get the money back [MTNJ 3: 262n116]. See also Oct. 16 entry.

December 8 Wednesday – Henry M. Stanley arrived with Lady Stanley and James B. Pond in time for dinner at the Clemens residence. In the evening he lectured in Hartford, introduced by Rev. Dr. Edwin Pond Parker. Livy and Sam were most likely in attendance [Sam to Pond Nov. 30]. The Hartford Courant, p.3 reported:

MR. STANLEY’S LECTURE

December 9 Thursday – Sam, James B. Pond and Mr. & Mrs. Henry M. Stanley left Sam’s home and took the train to Boston, Mass. In the evening, Sam introduced Stanley’s lecture, “Through the Dark Continent” at the Tremont Temple. Published in Fatout, MT Speaking 214-15. (See also Gribben 658.) Fatout’s preface:

December 10 Friday – Sam probably spent the night in Boston and returned to Hartford this day. He telegrammed Howells, most likely his condolences on discovering the death of Howells’ sister in Ohio. The telegram is not extant, which is how academics say, “it’s lost” [MTHL 2: 574n3].

December 11 Saturday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Charles Webster that Henry M. Stanley wanted to write a book for them but had to lecture for three or four months and could not do both.

His lecturing, this time, is going to make reputation for him — it destroyed it when he tried it before [MTP].

December 12 Sunday – William Dean Howells, back in Boston after attending the funeral of his sister in Ohio, wrote to Sam.