Day By Day Dates

December 1 Tuesday – In Berlin Sam wrote to George H. Warner. Livy added a letter twice as long as Sam’s.

My arm broke down on me again, yesterday, but I must steal a minute or two with a pen to thank you for the most prized letter [Nov. 17] I have received in years. I shall dictate a letter to my New York firm now & urge the bringing out of that book in cheap paper-cover form. I have long wanted to make the experiment with that book.

December 2 Wednesday – John L. Guinter sent Sam a newspaper article on “Mental Telegraphy” from the Williamsport, Penn. Republic which introduces Sam’s article and adds other examples [MTP].

December 4 Friday – Mrs. J.B. Newburgh from Las Cruces, N.M. sent Sam a note and a prospectus relating to his “Telegraphy” article [MTP].

December 6 Sunday – Sam’s second letter from Europe, “At the Shrine of St. Wagner,” ran in McClure’s syndicated newspapers on Dec. 6, 1891, including the N.Y. Sun, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Chicago Tribune, and others.

December 7 Monday – Miss Fannie S. James “a little girl” in Eau St. Claire, Wisc. wrote Sam a delightful letter admiring HF and TS, and even though a girl, she “would like to play with them and get into such scrapes and would be delighted to find twelve thousand dollars.” Would he send autograph? She’d read about Elsie Leslie — “She must be nice. I want to be an author and actress some day” [MTP].

Gertrude M. Denison of Royalton, Vt. wrote Sam a blurb about “Mental Telegraphy” [MTP].

December 9 Wednesday – Rosa E. McQuigg wrote from Ironton, Ohio with her story of “Mental Telegraphy” [MTP].

December 10 Thursday † – Sam and Livy attended a dinner at Rudolf Lindau’s, for which Sam wrote thanks on Dec. 11.

December 11 Friday – In Berlin Sam wrote to Rudolf Lindau of the Foreign Office, thanking him for a dinner which was “too delicious & too exquisite in every way for sinful human beings.” The date of the dinner is not specified, though it was social protocol usually observed by the Clemenses to send a thank you note within a day or two of such events. Since the dinner was in Berlin, a good estimate would be Dec. 9 or 10. Sam had been preparing a corn cob pipe for Lindau’s nephew by soaking it in whiskey.

December 12 Saturday – Speaker in, “American Professional Humor,” p.705-6 printed a general discussion, ranking Twain with the lower practitioners [Tenney, supplement #3, American Literary Realism, Autumn 1979 p.183].

US Census per Robert P. Porter sent more census forms and flyer from Dept. of Interior [MTP].

Charles H. Payne wrote from N.Y. to Sam with reaction to “Mental Telegraphy” [MTP].

December 14 Monday – Frank A. Burelle for Bureau of Press Clippings responded to Sam’s order that a quote per month would be less than by the article and he would send it [MTP].

Edward Bush wrote to Sam Pennsylvania State College with reaction to “Mental Telegraphy” [MTP].

Harry E. Pratt, Chicago attorney sent his reaction to “Mental Telegraphy” with clipping from the Chicago Inter Ocean [MTP].

December 15 Tuesday – Lucy R. Buck wrote from Front Royal, Va. to Sam with reaction to “Mental Telegraphy” [MTP].

December 16 Wednesday – Frederick J. Hall wrote to Sam about Thomas M. Williams’ desire to undertake sales of LAL:

…the work of his life and he wants to make an agreement that will extend over the next eight or ten years…he thinks there is a fortune for himself and for is in the ‘Library,’ and …he will make the sale of ‘L.A.L.’ the work of his life” [MTLTP 291n1]. See also Sam’s Jan. 25, 1892 to Williams.

December 18 Friday – Sam left Berlin with William Phelps and traveled 125 miles south to Dresden

N.Y.Times article Dec 20 p.5, dateline Berlin, Dec 19:

December 19 Saturday – Sam may have stayed overnight in Dresden or returned late Dec. 18.

“Playing Courier” first ran as “The Tramp Abroad Again: II. Playing Courier” in The Illustrated London News on this day and also Dec. 26 [Budd, Collected 1000].

December 20 Sunday – Albert B. Joy sent Sam a printed invitation requesting a visit “on Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Fridays in the afternoon / The Studio, Beaumont Road / beside the West Kensington station, North End Road” [MTP].

December 21 Monday – The Boston Daily Globe, p.17 ran this interesting article on Orion Clemens:

MARK TWAIN’S BROTHER

Would be a Good Character for One of the Humorist’s Books.

Mark Twain has a brother living in Keokuk, Ia., who is absent-minded enough for Mark to “put in a book.”

December 22 Tuesday – In Berlin Sam wrote to Chatto & Windus asking for four P&P’s “nicely bound.” He enclosed the second of six syndicate letters.

I will send the rest myself from month to month as they appear, so that you can set up the little book at your leisure [MTP]. Note: Sam proposed a booklet named, “Recent Glimpses of Europe” made from the six syndicated Europe letters.

December 23 Wednesday – In Berlin Sam finished the Dec. 22 letter to Hall, all written in a PS and PPS longer than the Dec. 22 segment. Edmund C. Stedman wanted an increase in his royalties from LAL. Sam addressed the issue:

Mrs. Clemens urged that I wait over night and then write something pleasant anent the LAL increase of royalty.

December 24 Thursday – In Berlin Sam wrote to Rudolf Lindau, enclosing a photograph he said was “pretty old — nearly 8 years — but it is the last that was taken. Now I’ll look for yours” [MTP].

December 25 Friday – Christmas – In Berlin, Sam inscribed a copy of CY to Mary B. Willard: To / Mrs. Willard / with the / Sincere regards of / The Author. / Berlin, Xmas, 1891. [MTP].

December 26 Saturday – In Berlin Sam wrote a “Happy New-Year!” to Frederick J. Hall:

PLEASE RENEW MY LETTER OF CREDIT! / Expires Jan. 7.

December 27 Sunday – The Boston Daily Globe, p.20 “A NEW STORY BY MARK TWAIN.” announced that in next Sunday’s edition would carry the first installment of “The American Claimant.”

A unique feature of this story is that each instalment contains some special feature, so that if you have missed a chapter or two you can still enjoy the quaint humor of Mark Twain in another.

December 28 Monday – Sigourney J. Cowles wrote from Westfield, Mass. to Sam about “Mental Telegraphy” [MTP].

December 29 Tuesday – Mr. Robert George Brown and Dr. Lucy M. Hall, sent Mrs & Mrs. Clemens an announcement of their marriage in Brooklyn [MTP].

Rudolf Mosse, Berlin attorney, wrote to Sam concerning Mr. C. Prächtel, rental agent of the Körnerstrasse property. “He will bring the matter before his senior partner immediately and will let me know the latter’s decision shortly [MTP]. Note: from a translation in the file of Mosse’s letter in German.

December 31 Thursday – Sam’s notebook:

The family arrived in their quarters at the Hotel Royal 1.30 p.m. Dec. 31.

Left Körnerstr. 7 in the hands of the servants to clean it & put it in order.

Wrote Mr. Mosse [not extant] that I wanted Prachtel to come & take possession of the furniture & see that everything was in proper condition; that some trifles of crockery were broken, also two windows which I would make good; but that Mr. P. must not rent the Wohnung to any one not approved by Rittmeister Killisch.