Day By Day Dates

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October 1 Monday – In Hartford this morning Sam began hanging out at Joe Twichell’s house in order to get away from the home fires to continue work on Connecticut Yankee. He was under some pressure to finance the Paige typesetter, and so even though his normal summer writing season was over, he pressed on. [Oct. 5 to Crane].

October 2 Tuesday – Arthur H. Wright for Webster & Co. — after paying all bills due on the first, bank balances total, $1,290.26 [MTP].

October 3 Wednesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to his brother Orion about hickory nuts, Theodore Crane, and the Paige typesetter.

Keep a sharp lookout for some particularly bully hickory nuts; & when as usual you send us a bag, send a bag also to T.W. Crane, Elmira. He is getting along pretty fairly….But apprehension concerning him is not at an end…

October 4 Thursday – In the evening in Hartford, Sam was working on CY and decided to stay in bed the next morning and rest, though he “couldn’t resist” and so worked Friday as well [Oct. 5 to Crane].

October 5 Friday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Theodore W. Crane.

October 6 Saturday – Sam telegraphed Will Bowen, his old childhood friend.

I want you to come right down and stop-over Sunday with me take a hack at the station and drive straight to my house [MTP]. Note: Bowen did visit — see Sam to Bowen Nov. 4, 1888.

October 7 Sunday – Will Bowen visited the Clemens home in Hartford. It must have been a short visit — one or two days, because on Nov. 4 Sam wrote to him “I wish you could have stayed longer with us.” [MTP]

Fanny M. Baker wrote from Wardensville, W.Va. having just read IA to send praise of its pages. “May you live long and prosper,” she wrote — a phrase strangely familiar [MTP].

October 8 Monday – Christen Thomsen Christensen, New York manager of the banking firm of Drexel, Morgan & Co. wrote to Sam. Christensen was the former Danish consul in New York. He asked Sam to meet with Henrik Cavling, a Danish journalist who was in the U.S. reporting on the 1888 election [MTNJ 3: 427]. Note: after the death of Anthony Drexel in 1895, Drexel, Morgan & Co. became J.P.

October 9 Tuesday – In Hartford Franklin G. Whitmore wrote for Sam to Frank Bliss, sending a receipt for $569.50 and advising that Bliss was correct to send both the statements and checks directly to Sam, not to the Webster & Co. [MTP].

October 10 Wednesday – Grace E. King arrived in Hartford for a visit with the Clemens [MTNJ 3: 434n90]. The visit would be interrupted when Sam and Livy went to New York to see Theodore and Susan L. Crane who had likely traveled there for medical treatment for Theo, who’d suffered a stroke. Grace was still there on Election Day, Nov.

October 11 Thursday – A Nov. 1 bill from Postal Telegraph-Cable Co. of Hartford shows a 29c telegram, the second this date to Mrs. S.L. Clemens [MTP].

October 12 Friday – Thomas Fitch sent Sam an account in the St. Louis Daily Globe-Democrat of his speech given in St. Louis this date [MTP]. No letter is with the clipping in the file.

October 13 Saturday – J.B. Smiley (Samwell Wilkins) wrote from Kalamazoo, Mich. that he’d just published his second book and was collecting “the comments of the humorists of the country” — he would like to send Sam a set of his “two little volumes” [MTP]. “Curio,” Sam noted on the envelope.

October 14 Sunday – In Hartford Sam wrote a long letter of complaint to the Hartford City Government, again about electric lights and health concerns over “open sewers.” On Oct. 16, Sam wrote on the letter,

The official health refused to back up the hearsay statistics. Therefore this project was abandoned. SLC.[MTP].

Sam’s notebook entry for Oct. 15 related his actions for this day:

October 15 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Orion about the typesetter; letter not extant but referred to in Orion’s Oct. 19 [MTP].

Sam also responded to Rev. George Bainton’s Oct. 6 letter. Bainton had asked if Sam used any particular methods in his composition work, and Sam’s answers are instructive and insightful into his thoughts on composition theory.

October 16 Tuesday – See Oct. 14 for Sam’s disposition of his letter to Hartford City Government.

October 17 Wednesday – Orion Clemens wrote three letters this date to Sam, all about a house for sale which he hoped to buy for $3,500 and to ask his opinion [MTP].

October 19 Friday – Orion Clemens wrote to Sam: “Yours of 15th just received. I will tell Pamela, and remember for myself. / Your nerves must be super-sensitive under the horrible strain of suspense about the machine. You have been so kind to me that I am sincerely desirous of helping you.” Orion wanted to go to N.Y. to look after Sam’s interests [MTP].

October 20 Saturday – Henrik Cavling in Brooklyn, wrote a short note to Sam. In French. Holger Kersten has graciously translated: “Perfect, Sir, I will be happy to visit you Monday evening” [MTP].

Webster & Co. wrote to Sam that his letters were received and noted. “We will make various notes of matters that we wish to speak to you about when you come down….Mr. Hall contemplates a trip to Boston andpossibly to Washingotn, to stir matters in those places” [MTP].

October 22 Monday – In the evening in Hartford, Sam received Henrik Cavling in Hartford, as requested by Christen Thomsen Christensen of the New York office of Drexel, Morgan & Co. on Oct. 8. Cavling was a Danish journalist in the U.S. covering the 1888 election. Mark Twain’s works were quite popular in Denmark.

October 23 Tuesday – Arthur H. Wright for Webster & Co. sent Sam a biannual financial statement showing a loss of $16,455.66 for the prior six months. The statement also listed the company’s indebtedness to Sam at $72,942.10. Sam’s agreement of Apr. 1, 1887 capped his maximum obligation at $75,000 [MTNJ 3: 429n72].

October 24 Wednesday – Reform Club (New Haven) wrote to Sam (envelope only survives) [MTP].

Arthur H. Wright for Webster & Co. wrote to Sam that he’d made an error in his last report [MTP].

A Nov. 1 bill from Postal Telegraph-Cable Co. of Hartford shows a telegram this date to the Murray Hill Hotel for .29 [MTP]. Note: to reserve or notify of Oct. 25 arrival.

October 25 Thursday – Sam and Livy arrived in New York at the Murray Hill Hotel. The Cranes arrived in the city at 9:30 p.m. Afterward, Sam wrote to Grace E.

October 26 Friday – Edmund C. Stedman wrote a long letter to Sam arguing the value of the Library of American Literature. “You have made no ‘losses’, & will make none,” Stedman stated. “Look elsewhere for the causes of an adverse balance-sheet” [MTNJ 3: 430n 73]. No doubt Sam was biased against the work since it was the pet project of his ex-partner, Charles Webster.