Home at Hartford: Day By Day

November 3 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Herbert E. Hill (1845-1895) of the Middlesex Club in Boston. Sam told of the Hartford celebration of the night before at the “Opera House till midnight” and his “Funeral oration over the deceased Democratic Party.” Hill had sent an invitation to Sam to speak at the club. Sam declined but then wrote he would “think the matter over” [MTLE 5: 193].

November 3 Thursday – Sam traveled to Boston as planned and conferred with Osgood. He probably dined with Aldrich and Howells in the evening (see Nov. 2 entries). It is not known what day he returned to Hartford.

Harper & Bros., per William L. Alden wrote to solicit submissions from Twain [MTP].

November 3 Saturday – After receiving Howells’ Nov. 1 letter about coming to Hartford, Sam telegraphed from Hartford to Howells for him to “Come Wednesday” [MTHL 1: 447]. Sam expected “an important telegram” the same day (from Howells? Or, possibly from Raymond or Webster) but it did not arrive (see Nov. 7 entry).

November 3 Monday – Sam may have gone to New Haven, as implied in his Oct. 31 letter to Pond, to discuss the upcoming reading tour with Pond and perhaps George Warner.

In the evening, Sam wrote from Hartford to Orion. The family admired a colored picture of Jane Clemens and couldn’t decide whether it was a photograph, or a pastille, or water-color.

November 3 Tuesday – George Walton Greene wrote to encourage Sam to attend the annual meeting of the Copyright League on Saturday [MTP].

The “Troy ass” R.L. Blakeman also wrote…from Troy NY. Only the envelope survives [MTP].

November 3 Wednesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Sarah Knowles Bolton:

Please keep the enclosed private, & do not let any one see it — for the reason that it has not been published yet; it will appear on Christmas day in a syndicate of 50 newspapers.

November 3 Thursday – In New York, Sam left or mailed a short note to Webster & Co. To,

…keep a copy of the within & send the original to Remus Harris. Then you can proceed just as if he had given us his full consent [MTP].

Flora C. Head wrote from Washington College, Tenn., clipping enclosed, to borrow one or two hundred dollars [MTP].

November 3 Saturday – In Hartford Sam received a letter from Will Bowen (evidently lost) just as he was

November 3 Sunday – William Dean Howells spent the day as Sam’s guest. He likely read the first part of his short experimental novel soon to be published in Harper’s, The Shadow of a Dream (Mar.-May 1890) [MTHL 2: 618n1].

Howard P. Taylor wrote to Sam that he’d called several times at Webster & Co. but failed to catch him in.

November 3 Monday – Livy wrote to her mother about Susy:

We get rather homesick letters from Susy still. I am afraid when she goes back after being home for Thanksgiving that she will be still more homesick [Salsbury 283].

November 30 Sunday – Sam’s 44th birthday. He read a piece called “Plagiarism” to the Saturday Morning Club in Hartford [MTPO].

He also gave a reading at the home of Mrs. Samuel Colt for the Decorative Art Society [MTPO].

November 30 Tuesday – Sam’s 45th birthday. He wrote a humorous note from Hartford to the editors of Childhood’s Appeal.

November 30 Wednesday – Sam’s 46th birthday. Osgood and Sam were guests of Mr. & Mrs. Samuel Dawson, of Dawson Brothers, Sam’s Canadian publisher. Sam wrote Livy on Dec. 1 that the gathering was “A crowd of very nice people there. We staid till 11” [MTP].

November 30 Thursday – Sam’s 47th birthday. Sam wrote a short note from Hartford to Charles Webster: “Dear Charley—There’s no sort of hurry. Yrs. S L C The watch came” [MTBus 205].

Joe Twichell wrote to invite Sam to join him and “six or eight young apprentices and mechanics to dine and spend the evening with us Saturday” [MTP].

November 30 Friday – Sam’s 48th birthday. He wrote from Hartford to Charles Webster. Sam and Howells had written a new play, American Claimant, and though Sam didn’t really want to hire John T. Raymond again, he realized the benefit of doing so. Yet, he did not fully trust Raymond.

November 30 Sunday – Sam’s 49th birthday. Johann Schiller’s The Fight with the Dragon, a Romance, was inscribed: “Saml. L. Clemens, Nov. 30th, 1884” [Gribben 606]. Note: Perhaps a birthday gift.

Sam and Cable dined with Daniel Coit Gilman (1831-1908), first president of Johns Hopkins University [Turner, MT & GWC 63].

November 30 Monday – Sam’s 50th birthday. Two volumes of Francis Parkman’s Montcalm and Wolfe (1885) were inscribed: “Saml. L. Clemens/ Hartford/ Conn./ Nov. 30th 1885” [Gribben 534].

Frederick D. Grant wrote that “two mistakes have been made in the placing of maps and notes in the II volume” [MTP].

E.J. Hamersley wrote birthday wishes [MTP].

November 30 Tuesday – Sam’s 51st Birthday.

In Hartford Sam wrote to James B. Pond, explaining that though they had room for Henry M. Stanley to stay with them while he lectured in Hartford, remodeling made “one of our guest rooms…uninhabitable,” so that Pond would need to stay at a hotel. Sam promised to make up for this with a later invitation for billiards.

November 30 Wednesday – Sam’s 52nd birthday.

Orion and Mollie Clemens finished a letter to Sam and Olivia, which they began Nov. 29 [MTP].

November 30 Friday– Sam’s 52nd Birthday. In Hartford Sam responded to a gift (probably of tickets) from Augustin Daly.

I have always avoided the Moody & Sankey revivals, but this kind is just in my line. Mrs. Clemens & I thank you most sincerely.

Sam also sent a one-liner to James B. Pond:

Dear Pond — She can’t read. Ys Ever / Mark

November 30 Saturday – Sam’s 54th Birthday.

Sylvester Baxter for Boston Herald wrote to Sam about the article on the CY they were to run, and sorry Sam could not join them for the Nationalist Club’s anniversary. “Could we not announce you in our list of contributors to The Nationalist Magazine?” He also asked if Sam “could write us a bit of something…” On the envelope Sam wrote, “ 1, No. 2, yes” [MTP].

November 30 Sunday – Sam’s 55th Birthday.

In Elmira funeral services and burial were held for Olivia Lewis Langdon. Livy was joined by her daughters, Clara and Susy Clemens. Sam remained in Hartford. From the Dec. 1 Elmira Daily Advertiser:

November 4 Tuesday – Thomas Bailey Aldrich wrote from Ponkapog to Sam.

November 4 Thursday – The text of Sam’s Nov. 2 speech in Hartford was published in the Chicago Tribune [MTNJ 2: 377n63].

Orion Clemens wrote to his brother.

      I received your newspaper extract, and your bitter comment on the margin. They will make a good chapter in the autobiography. That great work will be complete about the first of June.

November 4 Saturday – In Hartford Sam typed a note to Howells, who wrote Oct. 17 from Vaud, Switzerland. Howells tried to convince Sam to “pack up your family and come to Florence for the winter.” Sam responded:

Yes, it would be profitable for me to do that, because with your society to help me, I should swiftly finish this now interminable book. But I cannot come, because I am not boss here, and nothing but dynamite can move Mrs. Clemens away from home in the winter season.