Day By Day Dates

December 22 Saturday – In an agreement signed this day, Frederick J. Hall bought out Charles Webster’s interest in Webster & Co., for $12,000. The agreement would be effective as of Apr. 1, 1889 [MTHL 2: 610n1].

December 24 Monday – Frederick J. Hall for Webster & Co. wrote to Sam.

December 25 Tuesday – Christmas – Sam inscribed a copy of HF to George L. Bill:

To / Mr. George L. Bill / with the compliments of / The Author. / ~ / Dec. 25/88 [MTP].

Livy inscribed a copy of Charles Holder’s Marvels of Animal Life (1885) to her daughter Clara Clemens [Gribben 316].

December 26 Wednesday – In New York City on East 17th Street, William Dean Howells wrote a short paragraph to Sam.

The Moretti club dines the first Friday after New Year’s: Jan. 4, 1889. Will you come? I can give you a bed, and a hearty welcome. We shall dine at 6:30; so get here early enough to warm your feet before that [MTHL 2: 602]. Note: Moretti’s restaurant on 14th Street was a hangout for theatrical and literary sorts. See note1 of source.

December 27 Thursday – Sam had received Baroness Gripenberg’s letter of Nov. 8 from Finland, where she’d had the one-legged goose story published in a Swedish newspaper. A correspondent to the paper had argued that the story was taken from Boccaccio’s Decameron, and accused Mark Twain of plagiarism, which upset the Baroness. Sam’s reply is noteworthy in that it explores his views on originality and plagiarism.

December 28 Friday – Charles D. Poston wrote from Washington, D.C. to Sam on Dept. of Interior, US Geogical Survey letterhead to wish Sam a happy new year “with reminiscences of Salisbury and Ventnor” [MTP]. Note: Ventnor a seaside resort on the Isle of Wight, off the southern coast of England; Salisbury large gardens there. On Dec. 28, 1873 Sam made a quick stop there to hunt up a woman. See entry, Vol. I.

December 29 Saturday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Will Bowen answering a recent letter (unlisted).

I am exceedingly glad to know that your little people have come through safely & that the shadow has passed. … The children will be glad to get Mrs. Bowen’s Texan flowers & will be on the lookout for them with the interest of their sex in the nearest image which Nature affords of their sex. …. It is possible that my machine will be finished in a few days, now — but we never prophecy any more [MTP].

December 30 Sunday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Mary Mason Fairbanks.

We are hermits, now, & must doubtless remain so the rest of the winter. Theodore Crane has been here a month or two in a precarious state, because of a stroke of paralysis. Sometimes he picks up a little, & then for a day or two it is a cheerful house; after that, he drops back again, & the gloom & the apprehension return.

December 31 Monday – Sam printed a notice for Livy:

To Mrs. S.L. Clemens.

Happy New Year! The machine is finished, & this is the first work done on it [MTP]. Note: False hopes are the most intoxicating kind. See also Dec. 29 about this first “copy.”

Litigating P&P Drama – Slowly Strangled by Paige – Readings for Charity - Copyright Cause – Howells’ Tragedy – Chang Riley & Eng Nye – Theo Crane Dies Baseball - Dinner – “Not a man, but a hog” – “No stoppage upon any pretext” - Pinkeyed Censor – Stedman & Beard – Elsie Leslie – Connecticut Yankee Published

placeholder

January 1 Tuesday – Wallace W. Muzzy wrote from Bristol, Conn. to Sam: “That was a brilliant idea of yours, writing Prof. Smith requesting him to remain at Trinity…” [MTP].

January 2 Wednesday – Sam referred to “last night at dinner” with Elsie Leslie on his Jan. 3 inscription to HF. It’s not known where and who else was at the dinner, but likely Elsie’s mother and perhaps Augustin Daly and other stage personalities.

January 3 Thursday – Sam signed a contract giving Abby Sage Richardson permission to stage P&P. Fatout writes:

January 4 Friday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Richard Malcolm Johnston (sometimes reported as simply Malcom Johnston). Sam addressed him as “Colonel” and thanked him for his “good letter” of Jan. 2. Fatout writes,

January 5 Saturday – In Hartford, Sam wrote a long letter of celebration and explanation to Orion Clemens about the Paige typesetter test at Pratt and Whitney Co. 

January 6 Sunday – Mollie Clemens wrote to Sam and Livy: “You have known Ma in her happiest days tis well you can remember her thus. Now she is eighty-five and half years old and demented.” Mollie asked if they’d “authorize Orion to take enough of Ma’s money that is invested here, to put in a bath room and water closet on Ma’s bed room floor”; more talk of the house they would buy [MTP]

January 7 Monday – From Sam’s notebook, more about the typesetter:

Monday, Jan. 7 — 4.45 p.m. The first proper name ever set by this new key-board was William Shakspeare. I set it, at the above hour; & I perceive, now that I see the name written, that I either mis-spelled it then or I’ve mis-spelled it now [MTNJ 3: 443].

January 8 Tuesday – John Brusnahan for N.Y. Herald wrote to thank Sam “for the great and important information” sent. “It is, without doubt, the greatest achievement of the age. The whole civilized world is your oyster now.” Howland was less joyful, “having been disappointed so often” [MTP].

January 9 Wednesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Richard Malcolm Johnston and marked the note “private.” He advised of changed plans, to “sneak down to Baltimore on Wednesday, 16th…& go into hiding from all save you.” Sam felt the trip would wear him out and that he’d need a “whole day’s rest.” He wanted to be incommunicado there before Thursday. He ended with,

Let Capt. H.P. Goddard tell you what he wrote to me & what I have answered [MTP].

January 10 Thursday – Richard Malcolm Johnston answered Sam’s note about arriving in Baltimore incommunicado: “I will meet you at Union Station, take you to my house, and keep you as hid treasure safely from all inquisitions” [MTNJ 3: 443n117].

January 11 Friday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Frederick J. Hall, happy with the change in partnership.

The substitution of brains for guesswork was accomplished when you took Webster’s place last February, and I see by your letter that the use of brains in place of guesswork is to remain the policy of your administration. I cordially approve, detail by detail, of what you have done, & of what you have planned to do. You & I will never have any trouble.

January 12 Saturday – Frederick J. Hall for Webster & Co. wrote to thank Sam for the kind note — his approval gave him “new energy and determination.” A signed contract was enclosed [MTP].

January 14 Monday – William Dean Howells sent a note to Sam that they were “all expecting you at our Moretti dinner, Friday night of this week. Come directly on your return from Baltimore” [MTP].

January 15 Tuesday – Webster & Co. wrote to Sam proposing to sell the rights to the bio of Henry Ward Beecher to Bromfield & Co., “a small but reliable publishing firm” in N.Y. The book had been a loser to about $2,000 and the proposal was to ask that amount [MTP].