England 1872: Day By Day

October 10 Thursday – The Hartford Evening Post printed a summary of Sam’s grievance letter about John Camden Hotten (see Sept. 25 entry) [MTL 5: 179].

October 12 Saturday – Sam wrote from London to Livy.

I have been thinking and thinking, Livy darling, & I have decided that one of 2 or 3 things must be done: either you must come right over here for 6 months; or I must go right back home 3 or 4 weeks hence & both of us come here April 1 & stay all summer. But I am not going abroad any more without you. It is too dreary when the lights are out & the company gone [MTL 5: 196].

October 14 Monday – Bill dated Oct. 12 paid to Moore, Weeks & Co. for “case condensed milke” [MTP].

October, mid – Sam was entertained by Judge George Turner and family, themselves on vacation from San Francisco. J. Ross Browne wrote to his wife on Oct. 16:

October 17 Thursday – Bill paid $16 “in full all demands to date” W.K. Holt, handwritten, not invoice, services not specified. Also, $4.80 to T.S. Daniels, for oats, etc. [MTP]

October 18 Friday – Sam wrote to an unidentified person about his plans to lecture in Great Britain.

“I think it will be 2 or 3 weeks before I shall really know whether I can lecture in Great Britain or not. So I am obliged to be thus indefinite in my reply. I certainly shall lecture about 8 or 10 times in this country if other & more necessary business shall permit” [MTL 5: 197].

October 19 Saturday – Bill paid to Putnam Phalanx Market, Hartford grocers; steak, halibut, oysters, veal, chicken, etc. $15 [MTP].

Sam inscribed copies of “A Curious Dream”(issued this year in a pamphlet) and RI to Henry Lee: “To Henry Lee / From his friend /Mark Twain /Oct. 19, 1872” [MTP].

October 23 Wednesday – In Hartford, Hatch & Tyler delivered coal to the Clemens home [MTP].

October 24 Thursday – Bill paid to Arnold, Constable & Co. New York for cashmere, hat, five bibs $20.75 [MTP].

October 25 Friday – Sam telegraphed from London to Henry Lee, also in the city.

“Can’t. I am in the family way with 3 weeks undigested dinners in my system, & shall just roost here & diet & purge till I am delivered. Shall I name it after you?” [MTL 5: 198].

October 26 Saturday – Mary Mason Fairbanks wrote to Sam [MTP]. COPY VIC

October 29 Tuesday and/or November 1 Friday – Sam attended one or both of the stag hunts on these dates near the village of Wargrave, and wrote about the experience to Mary Fairbanks on Nov. 2 [MTL 5: 207n3].

October 3 Thursday – Sam wrote from London to Livy. Sam had received word that “poor old faithful Riley” had died. Isabella Beecher Hooker had supposedly retired from public life (she hadn’t), and Sam expressed how lovely Oxford struck him during a visit there [MTL 5: 188].

October 4 Friday – In the evening Sam telegraphed from London to Henry Lee that 1 PM the next day would be acceptable to meet. “The best way will be not to get up till one. If you don’t find me at breakfast, skip right up in the lift” [MTL 5: 191].

October 5 Saturday – Sam wrote from London To Charles Dudley Warner, all about the toast he’d given at the Sheriff’s Dinner. Sam was surprised at the reception received when his name was announced. He claimed to be “No. 75 in a list of 250 guests,” and the only name to receive a “spontaneous welcome,” that “completely knocked” him out. “I didn’t know I was a lion,” he wrote [MTL 5: 191-2].

October 6 Sunday – Sam wrote from London to Moncure D. Conway, declining an invitation to Stratford to enjoy the hospitality of Charles Edward Flower (1805-1883), wealthy retired brewery owner and four-time mayor of Stratford-on-Avon. Sam and Livy would accept another invitation in 1873 [MTL 5: 195-6].

October 7 Monday – Bill paid to E.D. Roberts, stoves, ranges and furnaces; for “2nd hand cylinder stove,” and parts $16.48 [MTP]. Livy was often frugal with the money when Sam was away. Purchasing a used stove reflects this. Hatch & Tyler delivered coal to the Clemens home [MTP].

September 1 Sunday – Sam wrote from Liverpool, England to Livy.

Livy darling, I wonder if you are back home yet; & I wonder how the Muggins is [pet name for Susy]. & what she looks like. I seem only a stone’s-throw from you & cannot persuade myself that this is a foreign land & that an ocean rolls between us. I feel very near to you.

September 11 Wednesday – Sam wrote from London to Livy about the great time he was having, though he wrote, “I accomplish next to nothing…. Have not written in my journal for 4 days—don’t get time. Real pleasant people here” [MTL 5: 154-5].

September 12 Thursday – Sam had several photographs taken at the studio of W. & A.H.

September 13–November 11 Monday – Sometime between these dates Sam wrote a note to Henry Lee, mover and shaker in the building of the Brighton Aquarium. He developed a strong friendship with Lee. Sam wrote in his notebook:

September 14 Saturday – Bill paid to Putnam Phalanx Market, grocers $14.38 [MTP].

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 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 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 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].