August 16 Tuesday – In Belmont, Mass., Howells wrote to Sam:
Your Ashfield audience will be the farmer-folks of the region, quiet and dull on top, but full of grit and fun; they’re fond of speaking, and rather cultivated, but not spoiled. They know you, like a book, and you can trust all your points to them. Their life is one of deadly solitude and suffocating frugality; but they are smart. They will stand lots of human nature from you [MTHL 1: 365].
August 16 Wednesday – Jane Clemens wrote from Fredonia to Sam and Livy: “The time for us to leave here is two weeks from yesterday. Mrs London our Dr. said this morning she thought it would be better if we could go sooner. Mollie is better than I have seen her before. Orion is better, but not well. Orion will do as you advised about our going. Your very kind letter was a comfort to us all” [MTP].
August 16 Thursday – Sam wrote from Elmira to his mother, Jane Clemens. He expected to be in Elmira until mid-September. Livy remained poorly and “improves so slowly.” Rosina Hay, their German nursemaid had left their employ, replaced by a new girl who only spoke German:
August 16 Saturday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Charles Webster, who evidently had advised that the furnace improvements in the Hartford house could be done for $750. Sam approved, but dictated that no workmen need to go up into the house from the cellar [MTP].
August 16 Sunday – Hjalmar Boyesen wrote to ask if Sam thought an illustrated history of Norway would pay as a subscription book [MTP].
August 16 Monday – In Elmira Sam wrote to James W. Paige about settling the “vexed question of how many ems per hour is good average work.” Sam suggested a contest at the Hartford Courant, prized paid by him for composing a paragraph of 500 ems. Sam estimated the best man might do the work in 30 minutes, with the rest of the compositors around 40 minutes [MTP]. Sam needed to know how much money a newspaper would save by buying the Paige typesetter.
August 16 Tuesday – In Elmira Sam wrote to Charles Webster, closing with the thought that the General Hancock book “does indeed promise well.” Sam believed in giving “any respectable author permission to use extracts” of their books, even as much as a tenth of the entire book. He believed such extracts created good publicity and sales for the books.
August 16 Friday – In Elmira Sam telegraphed Robert Underwood Johnson of the Century:
I see Gilders position clearly and he is right. Leave the article out and I will write you an article on some other subject [MTP]. Note: Sam appears to be calling their bluff on the title.
August 16 Saturday – Sam arrived in Keokuk, Iowa. Sam spent a few days at his mother’s bedside. She seemed to rally [MTNJ 3: 572].
August 17 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Moncure Conway that the new baby was “3 weeks old, & neither she nor her mother is able to sit up yet.” Sam wasn’t certain of the date the family would return to Hartford but it would be “several weeks before” Conway sailed, and they could coordinate dates for the Conways to visit [MTLE 5: 145].
August 17 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Charles Webster. Evidently Webster had recommending closing up the Kaolatype business, but Sam poured good money after bad.
You wish to know when I shall “close up?” When the business pays me $5,000 a year clear profit. Not before. The brass alone shall pay me more than that, before I am done with it….
August 17 Monday – Henrietta B. Babcock wrote from Cleveland to ask Sam’s help with producing her play [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Answer — Don’t [know] anything aboutg dramatic literature”
J.E. Buerk wrote from Boston to sell a German translation of TS to Sam made by his late brother [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “No—don’t want it”
August 17 Tuesday – In Elmira Sam wrote to Frederick J. Hall about the book business. Sam confirmed, “I have written the General” (Philip Sheridan, whose Personal Memoirs Webster & Co. Would publish in 1888) with marketing strengths of Webster & Co. He also asked if Mrs.
August 17 Wednesday – In Elmira Sam wrote to Franklin G. Whitmore, questioning increasing office expenses for Paige’s office. He noted receipt of a statement from Webster & Co., and questioned whether his agreement with Webster required him to put in more cash at this point. If Whitmore was in doubt, would he ask Henry C. Robinson, attorney? The summer was coming to an end.
August 17 Saturday – In Elmira Sam telegraphed Richard Watson Gilder of the Century:
…put into the proofs every alteration and every modification you would like made and I will then decide at once [MTP].
Sam also telegraphed and wrote to Francis Dalzell Finlay, answering his July 29, which had been delayed. Sam attributed the delay in the forwarding of the letter to “the carelessness of my business agent in Hartford,” (Franklin G. Whitmore.)
August 17 Sunday – Sam was in Keokuk, Iowa at Orion and Mollie Clemens’ home, at his mother’s bedside.
John Brusnahan foreman for N.Y. Herald compositors was anxious to see his newspaper install a Paige typesetter, and wrote Sam an “anxious” letter to “make a move” after learning the paper was considering installing a Mergenthaler Linotype on trial [MTNJ 3: 575n3]. Whitmore no doubt received this letter, as he then telegraphed Sam with unnecessary urgency the next day, Aug. 18.
August 18 Wednesday – Rose Terry Cooke (1827-1892), poet and prose writer, whose stories Sam admired, wrote from Winsted, Conn.
August 18 Thursday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Franklin Whitmore who had spent some vacation time with the Clemenses at Branford, Conn. earlier in the summer. Sam squared accounts with Whitmore on his share of the meals. He also enclosed a:
August 18 Friday – Karl & Hattie J. Gerhardt wrote “delighted” by a letter from Livy, but “so sorry to hear that Jean had been sick.” A shorter letter than usual [MTP].
August 18 Saturday – Sam and Livy spent the evening with Mrs. Langdon in celebration of her 73rd birthday the next day [Aug. 19 letter to Olivia Lewis Langdon, MTP].
August 18 Tuesday – Sam was granted his third and last patent, number 324,535, for a “Game Apparatus,” the board version of the history game [The Twainian, Nov-Dec 1957 p3; Aug. 27, 1965 letter from GSA on file at MTP]. See filing date and card info made by Patent Engraving Co., New York Oct. 9, 1884 entry.
August 18 Wednesday – Sam and Henry C. Robinson and other stock holders “turned over the Water Closet concern to Mr. Day, to have & to hold, for better or worse…” [Aug. 19 to Hall]. Note: the company referred to may be the Beech Creek RR.
Frederick J. Hall answered Sam’s Aug. 17 letter about Mrs. Almira Hancock:
August 18 Thursday – In Elmira Sam wrote to Franklin G. Whitmore with miscellaneous business items and questions about Paige office expenses, the motor which had been built for the typesetter, drawings for Pratt & Whitney Co. (which then had six months to complete building the new typesetter) and with questions about payment to them. Sam’s spirits were up:
Land, but it is good to see daylight ahead at last! I feel cheerful again.
August 18 Sunday – Sam’s notebook:
August 18 Monday – While in Keokuk, Sam received a telegram from Franklin G. Whitmore, a message Sam referred to in his Aug. 21 to Mollie & Orion as “that idiotic & nerve-stretching dispatch,” which caused Sam to leave Keokuk early. He may have left this day or the next, for he wrote from Elmira on Aug. 21.