Day By Day Dates

March 1 Saturday – Abby Sage Richardson’s dramatization of P&P went on tour [MTNJ 3: 481-2].

Dr. Clarence C. Rice had tickets for a play (unnamed) this evening and had invited Sam to go with him. It’s not clear if they attended. See Feb. 20.

Daniel Whitford wrote one-sentence to Sam, enclosing unspecified amount for P&P royalty [MTP].

March 2 Sunday – Orion Clemens wrote to Sam that Ma “seems well” but they were trying to keep her in her room. Orion was glad Sam “meant to come.”

When I read your letter to Ma, she said: “Tell him I want the horses and carriage he promised me. He never can pay me for all the trouble he was. He was the worst child I had — hollered and squalled day and night — wouldn’t let the nurse nor me, either, rest” [MTP].

March 3 Monday – Matthias H. Arnot wrote to Sam: “Yours dated Feb. 28th recvd this morning on my arrival home from New York.” Arnot had been “intensely busy” so had not written. He was pleased to hear the typesetter was exceeding expectations, and though it was difficult for him to leave Elmira, he would try to be in Hartford at the same time Senator Jones was; but if not, he would “endeavor to come later for a day” [MTP].

March 4 Tuesday – Orion Clemens wrote to Sam having recieved the $200 check. “I read to Mr. Clark what you said about him. He was much gratified, said he was glad you were pleased, and wanted a copy [of Sam’s remarks]. Orion quoted Sam: “If all the critics could handle a book as intelligently and discriminatingly as Mr. Clark does, life would be much pleasanter for us than it is.” Orion told Clark he could use the quote publicly [MTP].

March 5 Wednesday – Sam wrote to Daniel Whitford, the letter not extant but referred to in Whitford’s of Mar. 6 [MTP].

March 6 Thursday – The New York Times, p.8 and the Brooklyn Eagle, p.4 ran articles about the trust fund established for the widow and four children of the late Philip H. Welch (1849-1889) American journalist, humorist and author. In the Eagle, at the front of the list of some 600 contributors: William D. Howells and Mark Twain. This bio sketch from Webster & Co.’s Library of American Literature, Vol. 11 p.604:

March 7 Friday – In Hartford on or just after this day, Sam answered Daniel Whitford’s Mar. 6 letter by writing on the envelope to Franklin G. Whitmore, “Please send the Slote Contract to Whitford” [MTP].

March 8 Saturday – What Baetzhold calls “the one most favorable British review” came from down under: “Mark Twain’s New Book. A Crusher for Royalty,” in the Sydney, Australia Bulletin [John Bull 353-4n2].

March 9 Sunday – The New York Times, which had actively covered and sympathized openly with Edward H. House’s lawsuit to enjoin the P&P play produced by Daniel Frohman, loudly announced Judge Joseph Daly’s verdict. (The Brooklyn Eagle’s coverage was much more objective.)

MARK TWAIN IS DEFEATED.

“THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER” CASE DECIDED.

JUDGE DALY UPHOLDS PLAYWRIGHT HOUSE

AND SAYS HIS DRAMATIZATION OR NONE MUST BE PRESENTED.

March 10 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Andrew Chatto:

Mr. Ramasso has made translations of some of my sketches, & wishes to publish them in Italy, but I necessarily refer him to you, because the authority to grant or withhold permission rests solely with you.

Sam asked Chatto to send Adolfo Ramasso his books, but nothing earlier than GA [MTP].

Livy wrote her mother, Olivia Lewis Langdon:

March 11 Tuesday – Frederick J. Hall wrote to Sam analyzing the “statements rendered by the experts” and was surprised to note extraordinary outlays that would not occur again, presaging a good outlook for the coming year [MTP].

Daniel Whitford sent Sam a copy of Judge Joseph Daly’s opinion in the House case. “You will see that the decision rests entirely upon the two letters of December 1886 which he construes to be a valid contract” [MTP].

March 12 Wednesday – In New York Sam wrote to Charles W. Dayton about letters addressed to Mark Twain for an address in New York that did not exist. Sam had cabled the wrong address to Paris and was afraid that many responses would go to the dead letter office [MTP, paraphrase of Am. Art Assoc. catalog, Mar. 13, 1918 Item 77]. Note: Dayton would join Tammany Hall in 1891 and was appointed N.Y. Postmaster in 1893.

March 13 Thursday – Frederick J. Hall wrote to Sam about Andrew Carnegie’s possible next book being awarded them. Hall had sent a set of Carnegie’s current works express to Sam. Blakely Hall of the N.Y. Sun had been in asking about the typesetter; Hall told him that was separate from the publishing business and referred him to Sam. He also enclosed a promissory note for Sam to sign [MTP].

March 14 Friday – Theodore S. Parvin for Grand Lodge of Iowa wrote Sam asking for any of his manuscripts for a museum of Iowa writers. Due to Sam’s early days in Keokuk and Muscatine, Parvin wished to claim Sam as an Iowa writer [MTP].

Author’s Clipping Bureau wrote to Sam soliciting Sam for their service and touting 25 reviews already gathered for CY. Sam wrote on the envelope, “Brer, please decline this service, on his postal card SLC” [MTP].

March 15 Saturday – In Hartford on or just after this day Sam responded through Franklin G. Whitmore to Parvin’s Mar. 14 request that he had only the MS of his last book which was promised [MTP].

Albert Johannsen of the State Center, Iowa Mark Twain Reading Club, wrote asking why a chapter which had been taken from HF appeared in LM [MTP]. Note: this letter marked as received Mar. 18.

March 16 Sunday – J.S. Butchelder wrote from Fort Wayne , Ind. offering Sam an improvement on his Scrap book pages. He’d read in his “daily papers” about a problem with the pages sticking together. Sam wrote in the envelope, “Brer, please tell him the tissue paper was used in my Scrap-book years ago, but is not used now because the gum now used does not stick the leaves together / SLC” [MTP].

March 17 Monday – In Hartford on or just after this day Sam responded to J.S. Butchelder’s Mar. 16’s query about the paper change made in Mark Twain’s Scrap-Book [MTP].

Sam also wrote to thank Andrew Carnegie for books sent, including Carnegie’s Triumphant Democracy: or Fifty Years’ March of the Republic, which Sam claimed “help to fire me up for my last book” (CY).

I am reading it again, now, & firing up for a lecture which I want to deliver on the other side one of these years. I get a little impatient sometimes, waiting for the auction of thrones… [MTP;Gribben 131].

March 18 Tuesday – Using Franklin G. Whitmore, Sam responded to Theodore S. Parvin’s Mar. 14 request. Sam had no manuscripts to contribute for the Iowa museum [MTP]. Note: Whitmore’s note is stamped received in Iowa Mar. 20. Mail worked well in those days.

Albert Johannsen’s letter and question about HF arrived, and was probably answered this day or soon after. Sam wrote on the letter for Whitmore: “Brer, please tell him it is too long a story to tell — would require a chapter” [MTP].

March 19 Wednesday – Susy Clemens’ eighteenth birthday.

Sam wrote a postcard to Franklin G. Whitmore:
Yes, send me all letters that refer to the article, whether they cuss or applaud [MTP].

Rudyard Kipling’s famous interview with Mark Twain from August, 1889 ran again in the Allahabad, India The Pioneer Mail [Tenney 18; Baetzhold, John Bull 358n18].

Sam’s notebook: “Mch. 19, ’90 Chas. Hopkins Clark … one — (as trustee for Hartford Free Library) [Paige royalty sent]” [3: 569].

March 20 Thursday † – In Hartford on or just after this date Sam, through Franklin G. Whitmore, answered G.G. Green’s Mar. 19 request “that he could not spare a moment for the work you propose” [MTP].

Sam also wrote to James R. Osgood asking him the custom for reserving “a couple of the choicest (communicating) rooms” in Paris, France or New York for the “first fortnight in June” — could it be done without making advance payment?

March 21 Friday – Robert L. Niles wrote to Sam asking the possibility of reviving The Gilded Age play. Sam wrote on the envelope, “Brer, I will answer or dictate / SLC / This must go to Howells I guess” [MTP].

Mary Russell Perkins wrote to solicit Sam’s annual subscription of charity to the Hartford Orphan Asylum. Sam wrote on the envelope, “Brer, Send $10. SLC” [MTP].

Daniel Whitford wrote to Sam (TS of Frohman to Whitford Feb. 12 enclosed):

March 22 Saturday – † In Hartford on or just after this date Sam wrote on Whitford’s Mar. 21 envelope to Franklin G. Whitmore:

Brer, tell him all right for a very little while — then I shall probably want to sue Frohman [MTP].

March 24 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Mr. S. Howell who also owned a cat named “Satan.”

Our Satan is not as popular as formerly, because he brought derision upon his name by having a Kitten…. The Kitten’s name is Sin — another blunder, for sin is of no sex, whereas the kitten is [MTP from Am. Art Assoc. sale May 10, 1934 Item 127].

March 25 Tuesday – Samuel Coit wrote from Wash. D.C. to Sam thanking him for his response of Mar. 19 — “I shall follow your suggestion & hold on until the exhibition [of the typesetter] has demonstrated its [illegible word]. I should be pleased to know when that occurs as I shall want to see it.” Sam wrote on the letter, “Brer, please tell him whatever Paige says. / SLC” [MTP].

March 26 Wednesday – In Boston William Dean Howells wrote to Sam enclosing a Mar. 25 letter from Alfred P. Burbank. Burbank wanted a “consideration” to release the play rights for The American Claimant, considering that Sam’s recommendation of Burbank to play Hank Morgan was not enough to guarantee it. Howells felt inadequate to negotiate terms with Burbank and didn’t want to do all the restructuring of the play for less than half profits.