Home at Hartford: Day By Day

January 1-7? Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Andrew Dawson about being interrupted from attending “at the honors of the 26th.” This is the same “stranger” whose invites Sam had expressed frustration with late in 1879.

January 10 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Pamela Moffett, thanking her for books that her son Sam Moffett had sent.

January 10 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to David “Wattie” Bowser, who evidently had sent Sam a frog when Sam was in Canada.

“…they put him in the greenhouse & he lost himself immediately. The gardener hunted for him every day or two, & three days ago he found him. I have seen him, & he is all right & manifestly enjoying himself.”

January 10 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Edmund C. Stedman (1833-1908) American poet, critic, and essayist, Hartford born. He studied two years at Yale; became a New York journalist on the Tribune and World, as Civil War field correspondent. He later studied law and was for a time private secretary to Attorney General Bates at Washington. He was also a member of the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street from 1865-1900.

January 10 Saturday – In the evening, Sam and Cable gave a second performance in Mercantile Library Hall , St. Louis. The Post Dispatch, and the Daily Globe-Democrat gave the pair positive reviews [Railton]. Cardwell says the crowd was not good, and according to Ozias Pond, Saturday night was “not popular in St. Louis ‘with the better element’.” [Cardwell 37].

January 10 Sunday – In Hartford Sam wrote a short note of thanks to Dr. Frank B. Darby, his dentist in Elmira, for sending an “addition” to his “works of art” on Jan. 4.

They are pinned up, in the billiard room & their exceeding ister ingenuity fetches out lots of applause [MTP]. Note: see July 2-10, 1884 entry for time spent in Darby’s dentist chair.

January 10 Monday – William Smith wrote from the Osborne House in Morley, near Leeds, England, having received Trumbull’s volumes of Hartford history from Sam. Smith thanked him profusely and wrote he was sending as set of “Old Yorkshire,” which he said had been out of print for some time and hard to find at twice the original price. Smith also wanted to know where he might find a copy of Mark Twain’s Scrap book [MTP].

January 10 Tuesday – A bill to Young’s Hotel in Boston for room #30-1 for $16.40 for one day shows Sam made a short trip to the city. The room was $10; Restaurant 0.65; Fires 0.75 and cash $5 [MTP]. The purpose of the trip was not determined.

January 10 Thursday – Richard Malcolm Johnston answered Sam’s note about arriving in Baltimore incommunicado: “I will meet you at Union Station, take you to my house, and keep you as hid treasure safely from all inquisitions” [MTNJ 3: 443n117].

January 10 Friday – Sam wrote to Webster & Co. asking for books to be shipped. His letter not extant but referred to in Webster & Co.’s Jan. 14. Hall was out of the country [MTP].

Charles Ethan Davis telegraphed Sam: “Pump to be made if not delayed any more by La Grippe can be ready without pump in eighteen working days” [MTP].

January 10 Saturday – Frank E. Bliss wrote a short note enclosing check for $433.04 for “all royalties and profits due on sales of your books to date. Please acknowledge” [MTP].

January 11 Wednesday – Thomas B. Aldrich for Atlantic Monthly wrote to thank for P&P: “a charming conception and charmingly worked out. The only thing I have against the idea is that I did not think of it first” [MTP].

John Russell. Young wrote from NYC. “Any day or anytime will suit,—either here or in H.” [MTP].

January 11 Thursday – Charles J. Langdon wrote on the bottom of a stockholders meeting result for the Susquehanna and S.W. R.R. Co. and calls for stock subscriptions: “Dear Saml / I will pay these calls as they fall due from your funds here if you will authorize me to do so…$3000 is due. Please advise” [MTP]. Sam wrote on the note: “You are hereby authorized to take the $3,000 from my funds in J. Langdon & Co’s hand”

January 11 Friday – Karl Gerhardt wrote to Sam and Livy with news and clippings of the Manet Exposition. “All is not smooth sailing here for any art student” [MTP].

Charles Webster to Sam: “I send you the book you want by this days mail. I was unable to get you a bound copy so I send it in sheets” [MTP]. Note: book not specified.

January 11 Sunday – Since Sam had decided back in 1866 or 1867 to put his Sandwich Islands Letters into a book, he understood the value of pre-selling books by running excerpts in popular newspapers or magazines. On this date the Chicago Times and the New York Tribune ran portions of Huck Finn [The Twainian, Mar. 1944 p4].

Sam wrote two letters from St. Louis to Livy. The expressed,

January 11 Monday – The American Publishing Company wrote Sam a check drawn on the First National Bank of Hartford for $646.68 for literary royalties [MTP]

January 11 Tuesday – Sam was in New York, having escorted his mother-in-law to the Gilsey House. He did errands and had “such a long talk with Charley” (Webster) that he left things undone.

M.H. Bartlett wrote from Avon, Conn. wanting to borrow $600 with real estate as security [MTP].

January 11 Wednesday – Sam returned to Hartford.

Frederick J. Collier wrote from Hudson, N.Y. to Sam. Collier had become owner of a huge (5’x4’) painting of Samson and Delilah originally purchased by Dr. Edward Andrews on the Quaker City excursion. Did Sam recollect the painting or the purchase — where the doctor bought it? [MTP]. See Jan. 16 for Sam’s humorous reply.

January 11 Friday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Frederick J. Hall, happy with the change in partnership.

The substitution of brains for guesswork was accomplished when you took Webster’s place last February, and I see by your letter that the use of brains in place of guesswork is to remain the policy of your administration. I cordially approve, detail by detail, of what you have done, & of what you have planned to do. You & I will never have any trouble.

January 11 Saturday – Sam read selections from CY at the USMA, West Point, New York. Philip Leon writes:

“While West Point and the cadets are by no means the central metaphor for the novel, he clearly intended for West Point to play an important role in representing an egalitarian institution in which merit counts above heredity” [81].

Not all reviews of CY were glowing: An unsigned article, “Didactic Humorists” ran in Speaker p.49-50 and included a review of CY:

January 11 Sunday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Annie Eliot Trumbull, daughter of Hartford historian and philologist, J. Hammond Trumbull. The Trumbulls were family friends. Evidently books had been found in the Clemens home belonging to Annie.

January 12 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to President-elect, James A. Garfield to “speak a word for” Frederick Douglass, who had been appointed U.S. Marshal of Washington in 1877.

January 12 Thursday – Edmund C. Stedman wrote; not found at MTP though catalogued as UCLC 41429.

Ency J. Coleman wrote from Kalamazoo, Mich. to ask for a letter on “Clubs” for his club [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “No Answer”

January 12 Friday – With others named below, Sam signed a menu at Young’s Hotel, Boston. This gathering, not formerly reported, was likely a celebration of James R. Osgood’s publishing of P&P and The Stolen White Elephant. The names on the back of the menu are: James R. Osgood, SL Clemens, Wm. S. Draper, Chas. Fairchild, C.H. Colburn (publisher), G. Osgood, Eben Sumner Draper (1858-1914) Governor of Mass., A.V.S.

January 12 Saturday – Charles Dudley Warner wrote to Sam [MTP].