Elmira, Hartford and England: Day By Day

September 7 Monday – Sam traveled to Buffalo and in the evening was at the Academy of Music for the opening of the Gilded Age play. At the close of act four, Sam was called to the front of the private box and asked to say a few words. His short message was advice not to attend your own play on opening night. Sam seemed overcome by it all, but received an ovation. The critics in Buffalo gave Sam more of the same he’d received in Rochester—good, but needs amending.

September 8 Friday – Sam wrote from Washington to Livy. His only subject was the patent search [MTL 4: 453].

September 8 Tuesday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote Sam that “A True Story” was to be published in the Atlantic; he thought it “extremely good” [MTHL 1: 24].

September 9 Saturday – Sam filed his patent application for the garment strap and left Washington this day or the next for New York [MTL 4: 454n2].

September 9 Monday – Sam spent the day sightseeing with James R. Osgood, the Boston publisher who was vacationing in England. They visited the Kenilworth ruins, Warwick Castle and Stratford on Avon [MTL 5: 155]. Sam would use Warwick Castle in the opening scene of A Connecticut Yankee.

September 9 Tuesday – Sam and family returned to London [MTL 5: 432]. Livy was homesick, but Sam had not yet received proofs of GA: Paine quotes Livy’s diary:

September 9 Wednesday – Pamela Moffett would have had time to answer Sam’s rather harsh Sept. 4 letter about her son, Sammy Moffett. From Elmira, Sam offered salve and explained his thinking, though he remained critical of “giddy mothers & unwise teachers.”