April 3 Friday – Sam wrote on the envelope of a letter from Karl Gerhardt:
“Telegraphed Gerhardt not to send this letter—leave the matter alone or put it in General Badeau’s hands” [MTP]. Note: Adam Badeau was an old friend of Grant’s and one of his closest advisors during the war. He was an accomplished writer and also a public figure [Perry 72-73].
Sam also wrote from Hartford to Miss Wachschlager, probably an autograph seeker.
April 3 Saturday – Sam and Joe Twichell traveled to New York City and on to West Point.
April 3 Tuesday – Frederick J. Hall for Webster & Co. wrote to Sam having received his letter (date not given). “We will write to Mr. Chatto at once, and note what you say about the Beecher and Custer books.” They’d been holding back the latter so as not to interfere with Sam’s book [MTP].
Henry C. Robinson wrote a barely legible note to Sam: “Col. Greene thinks that his mis conduct is explained without involving him in any thing…” [MTP]. Note: the matter is obscure.
April 3 Wednesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Charles Noel Flagg (1848–1916) noted portrait artist, thanking him for compliments sent. Flagg painted Sam’s portrait when Sam was 55 [MTP].
April 3 Thursday – Matthias H. Arnot wrote to Sam, enclosing a draft for $5,000 [MTP]. Note: Arnot had agreed to purchase $50,000 worth of Paige royalties, $5,000 at a time.
April 3 Friday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Blakely Hall, the editor of the magazine Truth. Established in 1881, Truth began as a small weekly covering New York City life. 1891 brought additional financial backers and Hall, who was already a well-known editor. He made over the magazine as a glossy, lavishly illustrated magazine of humor, fiction, reviews, poetry, and cartoons.
April 30 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Miss Mary Russell Perkins, confirming the identity of the “poet lariat,” a label first heard in his Nevada days, but which he later applied to Bloodgood H. Cutter (1817-1906), a passenger on the Quaker City excursion, because Dr. Edward Andrews “distorted the phrase ‘Poet Laureate’ into Poet Lariat” [MTNJ 1: 334n77]:
April 30 Saturday – Mrs. Gilbert of Hartford billed $54 for “36 lessons in German from Mar. 21 to May 1”; paid [MTP]. Note: Four different Mrs. Gilbert’s are listed in the 1875 City Directory.
April 30 Sunday – 7 AM at the train depot, Sam met Joel Chandler Harris, who’d traveled from Atlanta. Harris registered at the St. Charles Hotel, where Sam was staying; the two then met George Cable and attended church services of the Prytania Street Presbyterian Church, Rev. J.H.
April 30 Wednesday – Sam wrote two notes to Charles Webster (possibly the planned meeting for this day did not take place). He wanted to retrieve the P&P dramatization from Marshall Mallory and didn’t “want any nonsense out of that man” [MTBus 251]. His second note directed a sale of “that stock at 20” [MTP].
April 30 Thursday – From Susy Clemens’ unfinished biography (her spelling):
…mamma planned to take the four-o’clock car back to Hartford. We rose quite early that morning and went to the Vienna Bakery and took breakfast there. From there we went to a German bookstore and bought some German books for Clara’s birthday.
April 30 Saturday – Sam and Livy were at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York. In the afternoon Sam accompanied a reviewing party to review the corps of cadets, and forgot to throw away his cigar before taking his place in the staff line. In the evening Sam gave his promised lecture. From Leon:
April 30 Monday – Annie M. Webster wrote on a small slip to Sam that she had received enclosed Mollie Clemens to Annie Webster Apr. 29 letter the day before and thought part might interest him [MTP].
April 30 Tuesday – In Hartford, Sam gave his signature this date to an unidentified person [MTP].
April 30 Wednesday – Charles M. Green wrote on Mutual Life Ins. Co., N.Y. letterhead to Sam. Green was planning a reading of selections from CY using stereopticons to show the illustrations in the book, but in the book he had they were not sharp enough — were there originals he might borrow? Sam wrote on the envelope, “Talk with me about this, Brer / SLC” [MTP].
April 30 Thursday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Orion Clemens. Text lost.
Mollie Clemens wrote to Sam and Livy, in the aftermath of Sam’s refusal to go to Charles Webster’s funeral in Fredonia.
April 4 Sunday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Orion, expressing some distress:
Please don’t put anything on exhibition that can even remotely suggest me or my affairs or belongings. How could you conceive of such an idea? God knows my privacy is sufficiently invaded without the family helping in the hellish trade. Keep the cursed portraits at home—keep everything at home that hints at me in any possible way [MTLE 5: 65]. Sam briefly mentioned giving a reading the prior Friday night in Hartford.
April 4 Monday – Western Union Telegraph Co. bill of Apr. 30 shows telegram sent this date to New York, recipient not specified (see that entry for others).
April 4 Tuesday – Frank Fuller wrote about his plans for selling stocks [MTP].
George Hamlin wrote on Chicago Grand Opera House notepaper asking for an autograph [MTP]. Note: SASE in file not used.
Caroline B. Le Row wrote to thank Sam for his permission to use McWilliams sketches in her youth reader book [MTP].
April 4 Wednesday – Sam sponsored and introduced George W. Cable in a program of readings at Unity Hall in Hartford. To ensure a good response, Sam encouraged well-known literary types from New York and Boston to attend [Fatout, MT Speaking 176-7]. In his Apr. 6 letter to New Orleans artist Frances A. Cox, Sam wrote “George W.
April 4 Saturday – From Sam’s notebook:
“General Grant is still alive to-day, & the nation holds its breath & awaits the blow” [MTNJ 3:127].
The Hartford Courant ran Sam’s Mar. 28 letter to Nichols, prefaced by these remarks about the Concord Library and the Boston Advertiser:
April 4 Sunday – Sam and Twichell went to New York City and “spent part of that afternoon…in the barber shop” at the Murray Hill Hotel [Sam to Howells Apr. 12], without knowing Howells would arrive at the hotel the next day, Apr. 5 [MTHL 2: 553n1].
Sam and Twichell probably returned to Hartford in the afternoon or evening.
April 4 Monday – Webster & Co., wrote to Sam about a proposed book on Mexico written by a lady (unnamed) who “has spent a great many years there and lived among the people. Whitmore to Webster & Co. Apr. 4 enclosed, conveyed Sam’s opinion that if they could get the book for a very low royalty, 2&1/2 to 3% they may close the contract [MTP].
April 4 Thursday – In Hartford Sam responded to Abraham G. Mills’ letter agreeing that Mills should read Carter’s letter and then introduce him at the baseball dinner on Apr. 8. Sam reminded him, not to address him as Clemens. “I am Mark Twain in public — never Clemens.” He also asked that Mills not send a carriage for him and Twichell unless it was raining, as they “always walk when the weather will allow it” [MTP].
April 4 Friday – Webster & Co. wrote to Sam that they’d sent the books (unspecified) to Cedar Rapids, as requested, but had not granted his signature on the title page as the letter of the purchaser had asked for. Reports (not extant) enclosed. “We have also sent a copy to the editor of the “Elmira Echo” [MTP]. Note: likely CY books.