Elmira, Hartford and England: Day By Day

September 15 Friday – Sam wrote from Elmira to James Redpath: “…we will take up our permanent residence in Hartford the last day of this month.” Sam refused to lecture in Buffalo because of past treatment there by the G.A.R. Sam wrote he would be sick and remunerate Buffalo rather than lecture there [MTL 4: 454-5].

September 15 Sunday – Sam wrote from London to Livy. Sam was being pressured to lecture in London but he resisted.

“On Tuesday I mean to hang a card to my key-box, inscribed ‘Gone out of the City for a week’—& then I shall go to work & work hard. One can’t be caught in a hive of 4,000,000 people, like this” [MTL 5: 160].

Sam also wrote a short note to James R. Osgood, enclosing a photograph of himself [MTP, drop-in letters].

September 16 Saturday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Orion about the advisability of Orion applying himself to the invention of a steam brake for the railroads. However, such a brake had been invented already [MTL 4: 457-8].

September 16 Monday – Sam had lunch with John Lawrence Toole (1830-1909), comic actor [MTL 5: 592n13]. Sam first met Toole in London in Sept. 1872 [MTNJ 1: 2: 296n11].

September 16 Wednesday – The Gilded Age; Colonel Sellers Play opened at the Park Theatre, New York City with John T. Raymond in the leading role of Col. Mulberry Sellers, a part which he had already played in Densmore’s adaptation. The play was a popular success and would achieve a remarkable run of 119 New York performances [Walker, Phillip 186].

September 17 Sunday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Orion, enclosing a letter from Benjamin B. Bunker (b. 1815), who had been an attorney for Nevada Territory. Sam asked Orion to write Bunker, since Sam had “touch[ed] him up a little” in Roughing It [MTL 4: 458].

September 17 Tuesday – Sam wrote a short note from London to Arthur Locker (1828-1893), a journalist writing a short sketch of Sam’s life for the London Graphic. Sam wrote that the sketch in “Men of the Time” was accurate, as he “furnished the facts” himself [MTL 5: 161].

September 17 Thursday – Andrew Carpenter Wheeler of the New York World published a lengthy criticism of the Gilded Age play in his “Amusements” column. While not unrestrained praise, the play was certainly a hit and the criticism positive [MTL 6: 643 for text of review]. The New York Herald wrote:

September 18 Monday – Orion Clemens wrote to Sam about his invention: “You are right about the immense advantage of such a railroad brake—but has it not already been invented?” he recalled seeing an article about such a brake on the Missouri Pacific RR. “I think it was the way you suggested—by steam under control of the engineer.” He drew a hinge he proposed to have made for the brake [MTP].

September 18 Wednesday – The Alta California reported the death of John Henry Riley, whose planned collaboration with Sam on the South Africa diamond book was left undone [MTL 4: 468n3].

A six-month ticket to the British Museum’s Reading Room was issued to Mr. Samuel L. Clemens, Langham Hotel [MTL 5: 176n12].

September 18 Friday – Sam telegraphed thanks to Jerome B. Stillson, editor of the New York World, for the positive review of his play by Andrew Carpenter Wheeler (Nym Crinkle). Sam was gratified the review was “done up so thoroughly & handsomely,” and would have come by but he was leaving the City the next day and had “been rushed to death with shopping” [MTL 6: 232].

Nearly 4 inches of rain fell on the NYC area [NOAA.gov].

September – Sam’s new lecture tour was announced in the September issue of the American Publisher [MTL 4: 414]. “A Brace of Brief Lectures on Science. Part 1” [Camfield, bibliog.]. (See Gribben 230-1.)

September – Sometime during the month, Sir John Bennett (1814-1897) wrote Sam, enclosing Anthony Trollope’s calling card [MTP].

The first of Sam’s two visits to the Doré Gallery, London [MTL 5: 614-21].

September Virginia S. Patterson (Mrs. Robert Patterson) wrote from Bellefountain, Ohio, wanting Sam’s opinion of two or three articles she wrote. A few weeks later she wrote again having heard nothing back, even though she realized he must be “besieged” by such requests [MTP].

September 19 Friday – Sam dated his double signature with “London” to an unidentified person [liveauctioneers.com/item/104701; Sept. 6, 2003].

September 19 Saturday – The Clemens family left New York for their new home in Hartford. The next day Sam wrote to Howells, saying they were occupying “part of the new house. Goodness knows when we’ll get in the rest of it—full of workmen yet” [MTL 6: 233].

September 2 Monday – Sam probably spent the first two nights in Liverpool and on this day boarded a train for London. In 1907 he remembered sitting across from a man on the train who was reading Innocents Abroad. The man did not laugh or even smile [MTL 5: 153].

September 2 Tuesday – The first boxed set of “Authors” card game with Mark Twain included was patented by West & Lee Co. of Worcester, Mass. [eBay Nov. 11, 2009 Item # 320446989875]. Note: several items listed about Mark Twain on the back of the card postdate the patent date.

September 2 Wednesday – William Dean Howells wrote to Sam:

My dear Clemens: / I telegraphed you last night to send on your manuscript, which I’d like very much to see. Your letter came just as I was packing up to come home, and I had not strength of mind enough to answer it, though it may not appear to a man of more active intellect a very heavy job to say yes or no.

September 20 Friday – Sam wrote from London to the editor for the London Spectator, railing against the unauthorized use, attribution of the articles of others, and added material to his work by John Camden Hotten. In the absence of international copyright agreements, Hotten had published many American works without permission or payment [MTL 5: 163]. Note: see Welland 20-22.

September 20 Saturday – Dr. John Brown sent a small printed folder with two poems, no letter [MTP].

The closed. New York Stock Exchange It would stay closed for ten days. This began the Great Depression of 1873, the longest in US history; it  lasted through the spring of 1879 and caught Sam in a financial bind when his NY bank, Henry Clews & Co. froze funds.

September 21 Thursday – The Washington National Republican ran a summary of a conversation, “Mark Twain Takes Out a Patent — Why He Did It,” about a patent for suspenders based on Sam’s take on Horace Greeley’s pants [Schmidt].

September 21 Saturday – The London Spectator published Sam’s letter of Sept. 20 about Hotten. In the evening, Sam gave a dinner speech at the Savage Club [Published in Fatout, MT Speaking 69-71]. The Club was a private club for authors, journalists and artists, founded in 1857 by a half-dozen writers of plays who dined together every week in an old Convent Garden inn.

September 21 Sunday – In London, Sam wrote to his mother, Jane Clemens and family all about sealskin coats he’d obtained or ordered for Jane Clemens, Pamela Moffett, and Charles Langdon. Sam boasted of saving about fifteen or twenty dollars each by buying wholesale through an “old friend.” He added:

September 22 Friday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to James Redpath. Livy was sick in Elmira and Sam and the servants were packing. He and his wife were to take possession of their Hartford house on Oct. 1. Sam liked the Young Men’s Association in Buffalo and wouldn’t mind lecturing for them, but not the G.A.R. [MTL 4: 459-60].

Orion Clemens wrote to Sam: