August 2 Sunday – Beginning this night or the next, Sam stayed seven nights at the Normandie Hotel, returning home Aug. 10 (see that entry).
E.V. Satterfield wrote from Mt. Vernon, Illinois, agreeing with Sam about the final resting place of Gen. Grant being in NYC. “P.S. Mt Vernon Ills. is away down in Egypt and the writer of this is a printer by trade and a lawyer by profession and practice, and never have been known as a very ‘shining light’ at either” [MTP].
August 2 Monday – In New York City, about to leave for Philadelphia, Sam, at the offices of Webster & Co., 42 East 14th on Union Square, wrote to Livy:
Livy darling, I have 8 minutes before leaving for Philadelphia. It was decided by the lawyers that it would be altogether best for me to go to the trial, so of course I go. I telegraphed & also wrote the lady in Middletown [Conn.] my circumstances & that my stay in Philada would probably be several days.
August 2 Tuesday – The Brooklyn Eagle, page 2, under “PERSONAL MENTION”:
It is said that Mark Twain tries a new hotel every time he comes to New York. This gives greater freshness to his jokes.
August 2 Thursday – Sylvester Bissell, Hartford builder, wrote to Sam that “Your cows got in my garden last night and made havoc of my early corn.” Whitmore wrote on the note that he’d paid Bissell $3 “on the spot” [MTP].
Arthur H. Wright for Webster & Co. sent Sam bank balances totaling $2,071.38 [MTP].
August 2 Friday – In Elmira Sam wrote to Orion Clemens explaining delays on the Paige typesetter. Apprentices were striking two keys simultaneously, so the machine had been down for a week until an additional device to prevent such events was installed. Sam wanted the letter strictly private, and included the Apprentice’s Record for time and number of ems on the typesetter.
Not 5 persons in the country know that the machine is done, & no more will know it for a month yet, if we can help it. …
August 2 Saturday – D.B. Davidson, N.Y. agent for the Nevada Bank of San Francisco wrote to Sam that Sam’s “signature (specimens)” had been verified by the bank. This process related to Sam using the $10,000 credit drawn on this bank from John W. Mackay and John P. Jones [MTNJ 3: 565n259].
Thomas O. Enders for U.S. Bank notified Sam of the Aug. 1 draft for $3,000 received [MTP].
Webster & Co. sent Daily Report slips for Aug. 1 and 2 [MTP].
August 20 Friday – Sophie Degen billed Sam $37.50 for July and Aug. daily milk? deliveries. Bill marked paid [MTP].
August 20 Sunday – Sam telegraphed from Elmira to Charles Webster:
“May be you had better come up tonight and consult tomorrow morning on the bill. I shall have a guest to entertain tomorrow afternoon & night SL Clemens” [MTP]. Note: see Aug. 15 to Webster. Guest unidentified.
August 20 Thursday – The New York Times printed on page 5 “GENERAL GRANT’S BOOK / A LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHERS,” Dated Aug. 18, with a note from the late General dated July 4. The letter addressed rumors of the Grant contract, that Mrs.
August 20 Friday – In Elmira Sam wrote to longtime family friend, Clara L. Spaulding, who had obviously written to him (not extant) concerning some disagreement; she was about to be married. Sam offered wisdom about words spoken in argument, how to keep peace, and quoted from the Rubáiyát, by Omar Khayam:
“A moment’s Halt’ — a momentary taste/Of Being, at the well amid the waste”…etc.
No member shall be called to account for words spoken in debate
August 20 Monday – Sam wrote to Joseph Hall for Hartford Public High School ostensibly to ask if one of his daughters might take two languages at the same time. His letter not extant but is referred to in Joseph Hall’s Aug. 24 response [MTP].
Sam’s notebook: [Chk #] 4317 Aug 20 Twichell, $135 [3: 477].
Mary C. MacDonald wrote a longish letter from Arch Spring, Penn. for Sam’s help [MTP].
August 20 Tuesday – In Elmira Sam wrote to Frederick J. Hall confirming that the proofreader had to follow his punctuation “ABSOLUTELY.” Sam included the desired issue dates for CY in London, Canada and the U.S.: Dec. 6, 8 and 10, 1889 [MTLTP 255].
August 20 Wednesday – Sam arrived in Elmira either this day or the next. He wrote the name of George Robinson in his notebook — a friend and furniture manufacturer in Elmira, who would have been a candidate for investing in the Paige typesetter [MTNJ 3: 578n14].
Orlando George wrote from New Orleans to Sam: “In February, 1889, I mailed you, from Lima Peru, a long letter — too long, I fear, giving you an outline of a Story, which I have in manuscript.” George wanted to know if Sam got his letter and could he offer the benefit of a few words about the story? [MTP].
August 21 Sunday – Karl & Hattie J. Gerhardt wrote to Sam and Livy that “everything with us goes along about the same.” She also wrote of working on a child’s bust (Jean Clemens?) and asked if she should “have a photo taken of it while it was clay so that alteration can be made?” [MTP].
August 21 Monday – Kate D. Barstow wrote from Wash. DC: “I have written two letters to you during the summer, without receiving any reply…Please send me thirty-five dollars and oblige” [MTP].
Mary Mason Fairbanks wrote her typical “motherly” letter asking for “some word of yourself” and that the typewritten letters were better than nothing. She’d read of him in the Century [MTP].
August 21 Thursday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Karl Gerhardt, advising him to get letters of introduction from “Warner; he knows everybody in Washington…” [MTP].
August 21 Friday – J.E. Larkin photographer, Elmira, billed Sam $8 for “1 ½ doz Cab[inet] cards 3 negatives”, paid Aug. 24 [MTP].
Chatto & Windus wrote with royalties of £979.11 in 3 drafts [MTP].
Daniel Whitford for Alexander & Green wrote more about recent legal matters [MTP].
August 21 Saturday – In Elmira Sam wrote one line that he would keep a confidence for this unidentified person [MTP].
August 21 Sunday – In Lake George, New York, William Dean Howells wrote to Sam.
Geo. H. Yewell, the painter, has made a superb etching of the room where Grant died, and Mr. Drexel has written him the enclosed letter about it…. I’ve suggested to Mr. Yewell that C.L. Webster & Co., might like to take hold of it, and sell it by subscription in connection with Grant’s memoirs….If he happens not to be known by you, I can certify his worth and standing. He’s a great friend of Millet’s.
August 21 Tuesday – Webster & Co. wrote to Sam that “business has picked up marvelously. We shall be surprised if we do not sell considerable oer 100,000 sets of the Sheridan” [MTP].
Dr. Clarence C. Rice, N.Y., receipted $105: “115 E. 18th St; for professional services rendered; Mrs Clemens 40; Mr Clemens 30; Miss Susie 35” [MTP] Note: unusual office hours 9 a.m. till noon & 5 p.m till 6 p.m. This allowed for 18 holes in the afternoon.
August 21 Wednesday – In Elmira Sam wrote William Dean Howells about the delay in proofs of CY being sent:
…yesterday Mr. Hall wrote that the printer’s proof-reader was improving my punctuation for me, & I telegraphed orders to have him shot without giving him time to pray [MTHL 2: 610]. Note: Sam consistently resented any messing with his spelling or punctuation.
August 21 Thursday – In Elmira with Livy who was caring for her mother, Sam wrote to Orion and Mollie Clemens. A mix-up in the Buffalo to Elmira leg of his trip back caused him to take another train, so he directed Orion and Ed Brownell to “go to the R.R. office & collect back the money…& get drunk on it.” Sam regretted having to leave early,
August 22 Sunday – Frank Soulé wrote from San Francisco to Sam, enclosed in Howells’ Oct. 31, asking for publishing help with a 200 page vol. of his poetry [MTP].
August 22 Monday – Sam wrote from Elmira to James R. Osgood. Sam was planning a trip to Boston.
“All right—but before you order a room for me at the Vendôme, I wish you’d ask Howells if Mrs. Howells didn’t mean to let me come to her house in case Mrs. Clemens couldn’t ”[MTP].
Hubbard & Farmer bankers & brokers wrote a notice they’d bought 100 Denver & Rio Grande at 85 for his account [MTP].
August 22 Tuesday – Pamela Moffett wrote from Fredonia: she’d rec’d his “very kind letter. Orion is trying to arrange in accordance with your wishes to take Ma in the safest and most comfortable way.—arrangements not yet perfected.” She also detailed expenses and showed he owed her $20 [MTP].