Home at Hartford: Day By Day

September 29 Wednesday – Sam was invoiced by the Gilsey House, New York for $171.80, including rooms, baggage costs, meals, wine & bar, carriages, messages and $25 cash [MTP]. This would suggest the Clemens family left New York for Hartford, but it may have been the day after. Also purchased was a $14 cloak from Arnold, Constable & Co., N.Y., paid Oct.

September 29 Thursday – Moncure Conway wrote to Clemens that he had a statement from Chatto & Windus of Sam’s account up to July 1 [MTP].

James R. Osgood wrote to Clemens, clarifying many points on Canadian copyright law and advising it would be necessary for Clemens to go to Canada “four or five days preceding and four or five days following the date of publication” [MTP].

September 29 Friday – Sam wrote from the editorial department of the Century Magazine, Union Square, New York to George W. Cable.

September 29 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Charles Webster, directing him to “get that play out of your safe—‘Colonel Sellers as a Scientist’—& express it to me” [MTHL 1: 444]. Sam was now ready to respond to the Mallory brothers’ interest in the play.

September 29 Tuesday – Fred Hall informed Sam that Colonel Fred Grant was planning on writing a biography of his father, taking up the story where the Memoirs left off. Sam left the negotiations to Charles Webster. Fred Grant asked for more than what was possible and the biography was never published [MTNJ 3: 201n58].

September 29 Wednesday – Dr. John Nutting Farrar, New York orthodontist, wrote to Sam with an estimate of $350 to $400 for work to straighten Clara Clemens’ teeth. The doctor wrote that the work was “among the most difficult in the profession and must be done right or, no good” [MTNJ 3: 258n103; MTP]. Clara was examined by the doctor sometime between Sept 18 and 24.

September 29 Thursday – Francis Wayland, dean of Yale Law School, wrote to Sam, forwarding a letter of application from Charles W. Johnson. “Wayland asked Clemens, who had already provided two years’ support to another Negro student, ‘to put the writer down for your kind assistance.’” [MTNJ 3: 300n2]. See Oct. 1 entry.

September 29 Saturday – R.H. Macy & Co, N.Y., billed & receipted $4.07 for “1 Clock 3.03; 1 Dlvery & all chg” Adams Express, tax [MTP].

September 29 Sunday – Clara Spaulding Stanchfield had paid Sam $5,000 on Sept. 16 for royalties on the Paige typesetter, and later wrote (she and her husband now lived on Long Island) evidently asking if and when she might buy more. In Hartford, Sam responded.

Yes, you can have more at any time in the future; & if I should raise the price & forget to notify you beforehand, the raise shall not be applied to you.

September 29 or August 23-28 – Sam spoke at the National Wholesale Druggists Association Banquet, Washington, D.C. Fatout reports this as questionably September [MT Speaking 261-2]. Sam may have gone to Washington sometime between Sept. 29 and 30; he was there on Oct. 1. This would leave only a day or two in September for such a speech, but six possible days in August.

September 2–16 Thursday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Tiffany & Co. in New York, enclosing their Sept. 1 invoice and a draft for $418 for nineteen badges [MTLE 5: 152].

September 3 Wednesday – After spending one night in New York, the Clemens family took the train for the ten-hour trip to Elmira. As was their habit, they took a hotel car.

September 3 Friday – Sam wrote a postcard from Quarry Farm, Elmira to T.W.M. Boone of Ft. Smith, Arkansas, thanking him for an honorary membership in their “Young Folks’ Literary Guild” [MTLE 5: 153].

September 3 Saturday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Howells:

What I call my mind, has been in a state of fierce irruption during three successive days. The consequence is, I am on my back, burnt out, devastated, & merely smoldering. …

September 3 Monday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Charles Webster, directing him to “mail the enclosed to the Altmans—that large dry goods concern on Sixth ave…” Sam didn’t know the full name or address. [MTP].

Orion Clemens wrote, “delighted” Sam was pleased with his history game research, glad that Livy was better and that Mollie suffered “pain relentlessly” [MTP].

September 3 Wednesday – Susy and Clara Clemens were accosted by a “drunken ruffian” down the road from Quarry Farm. The man “drew a revolver” on them but they managed to escape. See Sam’s Sept. 7 & Sept. 15 to Howells [MTP].

Charles Webster wrote to Clemens: about Howells and the Col. Sellers play, scene changes, final speech, etc [MTP].

September 3 Thursday – Webster & Co. per Frederick J. Hall wrote reporting total sales of the Grant books at 175,000 sets; other agent requests to be answered with postcards preprinted [MTP].

September 3 Friday – In Elmira Sam wrote a short note to Frederick J. Hall about the report of compositors including all the daily newspapers [MTP].

Sam also wrote a short note to Charles Webster, writing at the top, “Give to Charley first thing when he comes.” Webster was on his way back to New York. This note said that Hall couldn’t tell the Kaolatype buyer (Horace King) how much territory was included [MTP].

September 3 Saturday – In Elmira Sam wrote to Franklin G. Whitmore about a bill received which he perceived was a “mere legal formality” — probably from Pratt & Whitney Co., which was now full speed ahead building the new Paige typesetter. Whitmore should “file it away” [MTP].

September 3 Monday – Franklin G. Whitmore wrote to Sam that he’d received his letter with three signed checks but the monthly statement from Paige had not yet come. A bid for Burr Index stock was too low [MTP].

September 3 Tuesday – Frederick J. Hall wrote two notes to Sam. Payment had been offered to Samuel E. Dawson for arranging a contract with the Rose Publishing Co. of Toronto for CY. (Dawson was no longer in the book publishing business). Hall conveyed that Dawson would not take payment, but would accept a set of the Library of American Literature [MTLTP 257n3]. Hall also enclosed a copy of the contract with Rose Publishing.

September 3 Wednesday – In Onteora Park near Tannersville, N.Y. Sam wrote to Frederick J. Hall about rotten fruit and larger-than-ordered fruit baskets from a New York merchant named Goldsmith. Pay the man $42 and let him sue for the rest of the bill, Sam argued. After receiving too much bad fruit Sam had complained to Hall; the quality improved but larger baskets were sent without authorization. When the bill came, larger than agreed ($3 each) prices were charged.

September 30 Thursday – The Oct. 31 bill from Western Union shows a telegram sent to Elmira, recipient unspecified (see Oct. 31 entry).

September 30 Friday – Hubbard & Farmer bankers & brokers sent a statement showing a credit balance to Oct. 1 of $13,679.32 [MTP].

September 30 Saturday – Sam began a long letter from Hartford to Karl and Hattie Gerhardt whose expenditures in Paris, France had been increasing beyond Sam’s original pledge of $3,000 support for Karl’s three-year schooling [MTNJ 2: 506].

James R. Osgood per W. Rowland wrote a package from A.V.S. Anthony and acknowledged another installment rec’d from Sam’s MS [MTP].