Elmira, Hartford and England: Day By Day

April 29 Saturday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Whitelaw Reid, enclosing an article for the Tribune, which argued for saving Edward H. Ruloff (1819-1871) from hanging in a sensational murder case.

April 29 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Captain John E. Mouland, sending Samuel Chalmers Thompson with the letter.

“The bearer is my friend and London helpmeet…He would like to sail with us, May 17 in the ‘Batavia’ & I would exceedingly like it myself. I hope that the ship is not so full but that a shelf can be found for him to dispose himself upon.”

April 3 Monday – In Elmira, Clemens wrote Isaac E. Sheldon. Letter not extant but answered by Sheldon of Apr. 4. Evidently, Sam spelled out details of a desired contract.

April 3 Friday – Sam paid an Apr. 1 bill of $2.45 from Geer & Pond, Hartford booksellers for a subscription of Littell’s Living Age for the period Dec. 6, 1873 to Mar. 21, 1874 [Gribben].

April 30 Sunday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Orion. Sam put his foot down and would not be included in American Publisher (basically a promotional paper for Bliss’ stable of writers) more often than every six months. He even would have Livy stop any letters asking more of him. He would focus on his books.

April 30 Thursday – Charles Dudley Warner wrote to Sam. In part:

April 4 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Orion, asking for him to resend any “incidents” about the Nevada days he could recall, since notes had been lost in the move. He asked his brother if Bliss was doing anything with the manuscript he’d sent (Roughing It.) Sam added: “Baby in splendid condition. Livy as feeble as ever—has not sat up but once or twice for a week” [MTL 4: 372].

April 4 Saturday ­– C. Gleim wrote to Sam [MTP]. (See Apr. 9-12 entry)

April 5-15? Tuesday – William C. Cornwell (1851-1932) sent an unsigned article and asked Sam to respond. Cornwell was a banker temporarily turned journalist. Sam answered from Hartford:

April 6 Thursday – Sam wrote a short note from Elmira to Robert and Louise M. Howland, his old friends from Virginia City days, thanking them for pictures received; he promised to send pictures of the family [MTL 4: 374].

April 6 Saturday – The London Examiner under “Life in the Western States” ran a review that declared:

Roughing It is, in some respects, superior to The Innocents at Home. It is more consecutive and less fragmentary, but both are equally racy and entertaining [Budd, Reviews 103]. See Feb. 1872 entry

April 6 Sunday – In Virginia City, Joe Goodman wrote to Sam:

April 6 Monday – David Gray wrote from Buffalo, NY. In part:

April 7 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Annie F. Fuller (1840?-1906), 2nd wife of Frank Fuller:

My Dear Mrs. Fuller:

April 7–11 Friday – Captain Mouland of the Batavia visited Sam sometime between these dates. It was his second visit [MTL 5: 279n6]. In a letter of Apr. 26 to Colton Greene, a passenger on the Batavia during the rescue at sea, Sam described Mouland’s visit:

April 8 Monday – Bill paid to W.B. Willard, flour & grain dealer, $6.55 [MTP].

April 8 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Chatto & Windus, English publishers who had taken over John Camden Hotten’s company upon his death. Responding to a request for a blurb to promote Ambrose Bierce’s new book, Nuggets and Dust Panned Out in California by Dod Grile; Sam had known Bierce in San Francisco in the 1860s. Sam wrote:

April 8, 9 and 10 Monday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Orion. Sam sent a few changes on the new book (Roughing It) and told of Livy’s improvement. Sam was on MS. page 610. He was at Quarry Farm, “a mile & a half up a mountain, where I write every day.” The rest of the family was at the Langdon home [MTL 4: 376-7].

April 9 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Whitelaw Reid of the New York Tribune. He enclosed a letter about the necessity of securing sufficient life rafts on ships instead of lifeboats. Sam’s “crusade” on the subject was sparked by the loss of 481 passengers and crew when the Atlantic sank on the coast of Nova Scotia on Apr. 1, 1873 [MTL 5: 335-9].

April 9 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Jerome B. Stillson, editor of the New York World, asking him to save all the exchanged newspapers that carried the lie that he paid for a dinner to be given in his own honor.

“In confidence, I am bringing a libel suit & I want these papers as evidence. Don’t mention it” [MTL 6: 102].

August 10 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Livy. She telegraphed, perhaps the day before, having not yet received any of Sam’s letters. Sam answered that he’d written every day but two, one day in New York and one since arriving in Hartford, and one day wrote two letters, one brief. He wrote of clothes he’d purchased that had arrived from New York, progress on Roughing It, and his mother’s trip to Hartford.

August 10 Saturday – Bill paid to Putnam Phalanx Market, Hartford grocers; purchases made Aug. 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10: $6 [MTP].

August 10 Monday – J.J. Winthrop wrote from Phila. to criticize Sam for GA:

August 11 Sunday – Sam wrote from New Saybrook to Orion Clemens, giving Aug. 21 as his sailing date to England, on what Joseph L. Blamire called “The Crack Steamer of the Cunard Line,” the Scotia. While lying around Saybrook, Sam had formulated his idea for a better scrapbook, and sent details and a drawing to his brother to keep as proof of the date of invention.

August 11 Monday – From Livy’s diary:

“It is real hard to have the exchange so heavy—think of taking $3000 and only having $2500 when you get here—If I was sure our house would not exceed $20 or $25,000 I would spend more here, because we shall want the things when we get into our new house” [Salsbury 23].