August 22 Wednesday – Sam appeared as a witness, ironically for Captain C.C. Duncan, in his $100,000 libel suit against the New York Times [MTNJ 3: 25n41].
Sam wrote from Elmira to Howells. Clemens had just completed perhaps the most productive period of his writing career. With HF drafted and “1002d Arabian Night” completed, he wrote:
August 22 Friday – William M. Laffan for the New York Sun wrote to advise Clemens: “I put her into type and I think her highly amusing and seasonable. She’s on the Boss’s proofs and, I take it, is going in on Sunday” (in the file a copy typeset of “Hunting for H——” unsigned) [MTP].
August 22 Saturday – Karl Gerhardt wrote “another chapter in the Nathan Hale farce” [MTP]. Note: Gerhardt was bidding on doing a statue of Nathan Hale, now at the Conn. capitol in Hartford.
William N. Woodruff wrote [MTP]. Only the env. survives; Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Containing Judge [George] Turner’s suicide”
August 22 Sunday – The Boston Daily Globe ran “Mark Twain As A Wheelman,” p.8, Aug. 23, 1886 about his struggles on the bicycle.
HARTFORD, August 22. — Samuel L. Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, undertook to ride a bicycle at about the same time that his pastor began, and his not happy in the sport. The teacher of Mr. Clemens during the first weeks of his wheeling tells this story of him:
August 22 Monday – In Elmira Sam responded to Howells’ Aug. 21 letter. Webster & Co.’s “hands are abundantly full,” he wrote, but offered to forward Howells’ and Drexel’s letters to Webster (who declined to handle Yewell’s etching).
August 22 Wednesday – Franklin G. Whitmore wrote Sam of progress selling his stocks and bonds. Sam wrote on the envelope, “Yes, it is all right” [MTP].
August 22 Thursday – Sam may have been in New York City on business (see Aug 21 entry).
Thomas A. Davis wrote a “begging letter” to Sam (Mitchell to Davis Aug. 21 encl.) “wont you help a poor crippele [sic] old Minister” Sam wrote “Unanswered letters” on the env. [MTP].
August 22 Friday – In New York, Sam and Livy parted ways, Sam to Washington, D.C., and Livy back to the children at Onteora Park near Tannersville, N.Y. Livy would write to her mother on Aug. 24 from there. Sam checked into the Arlington House [Aug. 26 to Whitmore].
August 23 Tuesday – Sam wrote a short note from Elmira to Charles Webster, saying he was returning the “tile patterns….They do not happen to be the right ones.” Wasn’t there a “great bound book—a multitude of designs to select from”? [MTP].
August 23 Wednesday – John H. Carter for St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Lem Gray buried Aug. 23d”
Charles Webster wrote of his preference to come to Elmira on Saturday, as he had “some very important matters to attend to Monday and Tuesday” [MTP].
August 23 Thursday – From Sam’s notebook:
“I am told, Aug. 23, 9AM, that the Times lawyer proposed to Duncan that if he would let them off they would prove I said it all” [MTNJ 3: 24] Note: Evidently, the Times attempted to deflect blame to Sam. (See Aug. 22 entry.)
Sam’s article “Historical Peg Driving,” ran in Mastery—an Illustrated Weekly Magazine of Useful Pastimes for Young People, p. 248 [Budd’s list furnished by Thomas Tenney citing Baetzhold].
August 23 Saturday – James B. Pond wrote from Cottage City, Mass. The circular “brings hundreds of inquiries. All my letters are about Clemens & Cable” [MTP].
August 23 Sunday – Orion Clemens wrote to warn Sam about an unworthy woman being given the book agency in that county [MTP].
August 23 Monday – In Elmira Sam wrote to Franklin G. Whitmore, whose last letter to Sam was written Aug. 19. Sam enclosed a $10 check for , and also “the September checks” which probably were for bills, or for family, since Webster was not in the country. In order to secure the test he’d suggested for typesetting averages at the Hartford Courant, Sam suggested Whitmore confide in Mr. Stephen A.
August 23 Tuesday – In Elmira Sam wrote to Charles Webster about Yewell’s etching of the room where Grant died, and its possible inclusion with sales of Grant’s Memoirs. It was up to Webster and he could simply write Howells yes or no. Sam also reminded Webster to send proofs of Library of Humor to Howells.
His introduction will be a valuable addition, whether he signs it or not [MTP].
August 23 Friday – Sam may have been in New York City on business (see Aug 21 entry).
Frederick J. Hall wrote to Sam:
I have heard both from Mr. S.E. Dawson and from Mr. Daniel Rose — they will see me the first part of next week, so I think there will be no difficulty in settling the Canadian matter satisfactorily.
I will leave Monday and get back as soon as I possibly can.
August 23 Saturday – Sam was in Washington, D.C., courting Senator John P. Jones and other investors for the Paige typesetter. Joe Goodman had returned to Fresno, Calif., “about ten days from” July 29 [July 29 to Whitmore]. (No mention is made of Joe in Sam’s few letters from Washington.)
A.G. Harrington wrote to ask Sam if he could send a MS for evaluation [MTP].
August 24 Wednesday – Sam reached “Albany early in the morning, Hartford at noon; Boston at 6 p.m.” (See Aug. 30, Norton). He stayed in Boston and Belmont until Aug. 26, and possibly a day or two more. [MTHL 1: 371n5].
Franklin G. Whitmore wrote from Branford, Conn. to Clemens, advising Sam on various bills and memos Sam had sent for him to review [MTP].
August 24 Friday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Charles Webster. Sam wanted Webster to “Pitch into Mills’s business & square it up.” He spoke highly of Mills, not identified further.
Sam also reported on Duncan’s lawsuits:
“I have a telegram from Bath, Maine,—the grand jury threw out the bill, to that editor’s vast comfort. Duncan went for a criminal indictment, in that case.”
August 24 Sunday – Sam wrote from Elmira to George Iles, Montreal editor:
“I am on the warpath next winter, with George W. Cable—that is to say, on the platform. Therefore I dasn’t accept your & the Snowshoe Club’s kind invitation, for I shan’t know for some time, yet, whether my route is going to carry me through Montreal during the Carnival or not…” [MTP].
August 24 Monday – Sam and Livy left the children with the Cranes at Quarry Farm and took a trip to Albany, where they stayed at the home of Dean Sage [MTNJ 3: 179n5; The Twainian, Sept-Oct. 1956, p4].
Livy’s diary entry:
August 24 Tuesday – Sam was elected “Corresponding Member for Life” of the Scottish Society of Literature and Art, and given a plaque bearing this date [Scott 132].
August 24 Wednesday – Chatto & Windus wrote to Sam forwarding “an official letter from the Inland Revenue Department” assessing an income tax on his English book profits. Sam did not receive this notice until Sept. 19. See that entry for his reply.
August 24 Friday – In Elmira Livy and Sam wrote a short letter to Mrs. David Billings of Elmira, with Sam inserting and finishing her first sentence and she finishing his next to last. Livy thought there was a similarity between the two handwritings [MTP]. Note: The envelope was marked “Mrs. Daniel Billings.”
Sam also wrote to Richard Watson Gilder.
August 24 Saturday – In Elmira, Sam had just received the first batch of proofs sent by Webster & Co. on Aug. 18 [MTNJ 3: 512n109]. Sam wrote to William Dean Howells. Sam praised Beard’s illustrations for CY and hoped Howells could mention the book in his Harper’s column, “Editor’s Study.”