Day By Day Dates

January 11 Saturday – Sam read selections from CY at the USMA, West Point, New York. Philip Leon writes:

“While West Point and the cadets are by no means the central metaphor for the novel, he clearly intended for West Point to play an important role in representing an egalitarian institution in which merit counts above heredity” [81].

Not all reviews of CY were glowing: An unsigned article, “Didactic Humorists” ran in Speaker p.49-50 and included a review of CY:

January 12 Sunday – The New York World on page 14 ran a long interview and feature article, “‘Mark Twain’ at Home.” A brief excerpt about Sam’s writing habits:

“I don’t know how much copy I write each day in those three summer months. The amount varies. ‘Do a little every day’ is my rule. Stick to it and you find the pile of manuscript growing rapidly. If on reading it over I find things I don’t like I simply tear up twenty or thirty pages and there is no harm done. Don’t be in a hurry to do too much, but work regularly.”

January 13 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Charles W. Thomas (1849- ), attorney, editorial writer and president of the Mutual Club of Woodland, Calif. Thomas evidently had written a review of CY for a Western newspaper. He also wrote Sam a question (not extant):

Yes, you are right — that is the book’s purpose. In your notice — for which I cordially thank you — you have divined its intent exactly.

January 14 Tuesday – In Hartford on or just after this date, Sam answered K.C. Tapley’s Jan. 13 query with the address of Slote & Co. and noted on Tapley’s envelope (later?) “They’ve failed” [MTP].

January 15 Wednesday – Eli H. Chandler of Kansas City, Kansas wrote at sea, returning from London to Sam, and enclosed clippings from the Jan. 13 London Daily Telegraph, which he claimed had the highest circulation in the world. Chandler observed that the editor of the Telegraph “totally misunderstands and misconceives the scope and intention of your book” (CY). The article called the book a “travesty…that tries to deface our moral and literary currency” [MTP].

January 16 Thursday – Edmund Hudson, editor of the National Democrat Weekly (Washington) wrote after hearing about the Thorne typesetters from Sylvester Baxter of the Boston Herald.

January 17 Friday – A Hartford Courant reporter called on Sam in the afternoon, seeking answers about the dispute with Edward H. House over the dramatization contract for P&P. (See Jan.18 entry.)

Sam forwarded Hudson’s Jan. 16 letter to R.W. Nelson of the Thorne Typesetting Co., writing on the bottom:

January 18 Saturday – The Hartford Courant printed “Mark Twain’s Lawsuit” on the front page.

Mr. Edward H. House, the author and journalist, has brought suit against Mr. Samuel L. Clemens, alleging breach of contract in relation to the dramatization of The Prince and the Pauper. An acting version of the play in question by Mrs. Abby Sage Richardson is announced for next Monday evening at the Broadway Theater, New York, with Elsie Leslie in the parts of Edward VI and Tom Canty.

January 20 Monday – The Clemens family went to New York for the opening of the P&P play at the Broadway Theatre. This was Abby Sage Richardson’s version, produced by Daniel Frohman and staged by David Belasco. Sam stood hand in hand with the star of the show, little Elsie Leslie, and gave a curtain speech following the third act. Livy wrote to her mother about the evening on Feb. 2:

January 21 Tuesday – The Boston Daily Globe, Jan. 22, 1889 p.4 “Howard’s Gossip” and datelined New York, Jan. 21, had a few words to say about P&P.

The “Prince and Pauper” needs pruning.

Elsie Leslie does admirable work as the Prince and fair work as the Pauper.

She certainly is a daisy.

      Mark Twain’s speech was in his self-complacent line, and a dead copy of Artemus Ward. Twain could never be a favorite here.

January 22 Wednesday – J.L. Dawkins, secretary of the Toronto Anti-Poverty Society, wrote to Sam commenting on the libertarian principles of P&P and asking if Sam might lecture for the society sometime in the spring [MTP]. This was one of a probable hundreds of such requests during these years.

January 23 Thursday – Sam signed an affidavit in the House lawsuit case, outlining William Gillette’s early (1884) involvement with a possible P&P play in order to discredit Edward H. House’s claims [MTNJ 3: 544n185].

The Brooklyn Eagle carried an announcement on p.4 of February’s articles for Harper’s Magazine, Number 477. Among them is listed a story collected in 1893’s The £1,000,000 Bank-Note and Other New Stories:

January 24 Friday – In Hartford Sam wrote a two-line decline to Clarence W. Bowen:

My hand is out, on miscellaneous work, from lack of practice, & so it would not be worth while to try [MTP].

January 25 Saturday – After his Jan. 23 dinner at the Union League Club, William Dean Howells stopped off at Hartford, probably staying the night. He wrote to Sam of the visit and his departure on Jan. 28 and also on Feb. 2 to his father [MTHL 2: 628&n4].

The Critic reviewed the stage version of P&P.

January 26 Sunday – In the evening William Dean Howells left the Clemenses and Hartford, catching the train “just as it began to move” [MTHL 2: 628]. Howells wrote his father on Feb. 2, apologizing for failing to write “last Sunday,” this day: “I had been at New York, and I stopped to see Mark Twain at Hartford and we talked much all day” [MTP: Life in Letters of William Dean Howells, p.1 Doubleday, 1928].

January 27 Monday – The New York Times, p.5, ran a long article on Edward House’s lawsuit, “MARK TWAIN HAULED UP,” which cited from Sam’s Dec. 17 & 26, 1886 letters to House about dramatizing P&P. Also quoted were affidavits in the suit, and House’s Aug. 29, 1887 letter to Sam. There is little doubt as to the sentiments of the Times (see Whitford’s reason for a Times grudge, Jan. 31):

January 28 Tuesday – Howells, back in Boston, wrote to Sam regarding the play, The American Claimant (which had been Colonel Sellers as Scientist and licensed to Alfred P. Burbank in 1886).

January 29 Wednesday – Mary Greening, cousin of Sam’s, wrote from Hunnewell, Mo. asking why she never got answers to her letters . “Why don’t your children write?” [MTP].

January 30 Thursday – Sam wrote on a card to an unidentified person:

If I had ever made such a resolution I would break it now. Yours truly Mark Twain. Jan. 30/90 [MTP].

Daniel Whitford wrote to Sam that the gross receipts of P&P for the week beginning Jan. 20 were $5,433.25 and he enclosed a check for Sam’s portion with statement (not extant). Whitford had called on Frohman to again discuss foreign rights to the play — no agreement was reached [MTP].

January 31 Friday – In Hartford Sam answered Howells’ Jan. 28 letter. Since Howells’ visit, Sam had received Burbank’s Jan. 27 inquiry about playing Hank Morgan.

This seems to arrive opportunely. Return it to me & I will send it to Howard Taylor & suggest that he might do worse than put the “Yankee” drama into Burbank’s hands.

February – Harper’s Magazine, Number 477, p.439-44 included Sam’s story, “A Majestic Literary Fossil,” which was collected in 1893’s The £1,000,000 Bank-Note and Other New Stories.

St. Nicholas magazine for children, p.309-13 ran “A Wonderful Pair of Slippers,” which included Sam’s letter to Elsie Leslie.

February 1 Saturday – Sam went to New York City and would return Feb. 3. Clara Clemens also went for an appointment with her orthodontist. Miss Lilly Gillette Foote, the Clemens’ governess accompanied them [Livy to her mother, Feb.2, MTP].

Sam’s notebook:

February 2 Sunday – Sam and Livy’s 20th Anniversary, which they both seemed to have overlooked — from a letter to her mother, Livy wrote:

Until I wrote the date… I had not remembered that this is my wedding day. Mr. Clemens is in New York for the day, he went yesterday and will I think return tomorrow…. Susy has gone to church Clara is in New York with Miss Foote attending to her teeth, Jean is upstairs reading. / It is a grey Sunday and looks like snow [Salsbury 273].

February 3 Monday – Sam returned to Hartford [Livy to her mother, Feb.2, MTP].

In Boston, William Dean Howells answered Sam’s Jan. 31:

All right: I return both your letter and B.’s [Burbank’s] so that you can have the true text before you. I haven’t heard from Herne since he carried off the play. It’s well to get it out of B.’s hands anyway, if he’s willing [MTP] Note: See Jan. 28 from Howells.

February 4 Tuesday – Mrs. H.W. Beall wrote from Mayesville, S.C. to thank Sam for books sent [MTP].

Webster & Co. wrote a short note to Sam with weekly reports (not extant): “Not hearing from you in regard to the last cable we received from Mr. Hall saying that trade house had offered $30,000 in cash and 50% and that he would sail on the 5th” [MTP].