January 27 Tuesday – † Sam was in Washington, seeking to confer with Senator John P. Jones on the Paige typesetter.
Orion Clemens wrote thanking Sam for the $200 check which came the day before [MTP].
William Fowler wrote from Edinburgh to Sam about the death of Jim Park, a friend “who was so deeply bitten by Mark Twain.” Fowler called Twain “Jim Park’s good angel” [MTP].
January 28 Friday – A.H. Hubbard for Hubbard Bros., Phila. wrote to Clemens, also hearing he was going to seek a new publisher and wanted to become his [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Can’t”.
J.R. Jones for National Publishing Co., Phila. wrote to Clemens, hearing he’d “severed” his connection with his old publisher, and offered to publish “a first class work for you” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Can’t”.
January 28 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Howells about the Whitelaw Reid “persecutions” of the New York Herald, which Sam had thoroughly investigated after Livy suggested he do so (See Jan. 21 entry to Webster).
January 28 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Charles Webster, again about the proposed play, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Webster was trying to find an actor to play the role of Tom, and Sam had definite (and rather inflexible) ideas about the money angles.
“No, the actor must play Tom Sawyer till it is down to where it pays him only an average of $300 or $400 a month clear & above expenses, for a whole season. It’s important” [MTBus 233].
January 28 Wednesday – Sam telegraphed from Milwaukee, Wisc. to Charles Webster to draw $5,000 from the “No 2 account” [MTP].
Sam and Cable gave a reading at the Academy of Music in Milwaukee, in front of what the Milwaukee Sentinel called “a small but delighted audience” [Railton].
January 28 Thursday – In Washington, D.C., Sam spoke before the U.S. Senate Committee, His “Remarks on Copyright” can be found in Fatout’s Mark Twain Speaking, p.206-9. Fatout prefaces:
January 28 Saturday – From Sam’s notebook, another Webster & Co. Bank balance: Jan. 28 — 9,538.76 [MTNJ 3: 372].
Charles J. Langdon wrote to Sam (Galsway to Langdon Jan. 25 enclosed) asking him to “execute enclosed satisfaction of Mtg. Before notary public” [MTP].
January 28 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote to the editor of the London Pall Mall Gazette, a newspaper that often carried articles and notices about Mark Twain. In this case the paper had printed from Sam’s letter to an “English friend” of Sam’s, (George Standring [MTNJ 3: 440n112]) that Mark Twain had invented the typesetting machine.
January 28 Tuesday – Howells, back in Boston, wrote to Sam regarding the play, The American Claimant (which had been Colonel Sellers as Scientist and licensed to Alfred P. Burbank in 1886).
January 28 Wednesday – † Sam probably returned to Hartford by this day, as the trip was often a long one and his Jan. 29 telegraph to Howard P. Taylor would have been during daytime hours.
Julius G. Rathbun wrote to Sam wishing a “1/4 hours confab” with him sometime in the next few days [MTP]. Note: Rathbun owned the Hartford apothecaries.
January 29 Thursday – Mary Keily in Lancaster, Penn. Insane asylum, finished a letter to Sam begun on Jan. 27, asking again for $5 [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “From lunatic”. Note: Mary’s several letters in the files are extremely long, rambling and non-sensical. For the most part they have not been quoted in this volume out of respect for the mentally disturbed.
January 29 Saturday – Stephen C. Massett wrote from NYC to Sam, enclosing a play bill for his performance in Kimberley, S. Africa. After relating missing Sam at the Brunswick in London, Massett recalled: “What changed! Since Geo. E. Barnes introduce me to you in the “Call” office in 1868!” [MTP]. Sam wrote on the env., “Poor old Jeems Pipes of Pipesville”; Sam replied on Jan. 31.
January 29 Sunday – Joe Goodman wrote from Fresno, Calif. to Sam offering his opinion on P&P.
January 29 Monday – Orion Clemens wrote, Orion stories enclosed [MTP].
January 29 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to John Chalmers Blair (1848-1910?), of Huntingdon, Penn. “Your packets are an unspeakable convenience. They make authorship a pastime.” [MTP]. Note: In 1879 Blair started a tablet factory, which grew to a worldwide business, so Sam’s compliment probably had to do with writing tablets. Blair’s wife would name a hospital after him in 1911, which still operates.
January 29 Thursday – Sam and Cable gave a second reading at the Academy of Music, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Sentinel reported on Jan. 30: “The audience was much larger than on the previous night and appeared to heartily enjoy the readings” [Railton].
During the performance off stage, George Cable wrote to his wife, Lucy, of the struggle:
January 29 Friday – As Fatout points out, Sam was somewhat ambivalent about the Hawley Bill but when pressed on the matter before the Senate Committee on Patents on the second day of testimony, he said:
January 29 Sunday – Edward Mott wrote on N.Y. Sun stationery about a possible book of his sketches from his columns in the Sun titled, “Old Settler.” Mott asked to discuss it with Sam [MTP].
January 29 Tuesday – H. Billard wrote from N.Y. asking Sam for a contribution for a book to be sold at the American Institute’s Fair Feb. 18 to 26. [MTP].
January 29 Wednesday – Mary Greening, cousin of Sam’s, wrote from Hunnewell, Mo. asking why she never got answers to her letters . “Why don’t your children write?” [MTP].
January 29 Thursday – In Hartford Sam telegraphed Howard P. Taylor, once compositor on the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, and now an accomplished playwright, who wished to dramatize CY.
Been away. I like the idea but submit the terms to me before you close. SL Clemens / Jany 29th 1891 [MTP].
January 3 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Moncure Conway.
January 3 Wednesday – James R. Osgood wrote from Boston asking about “premiums offered” for canvassers of LM [MTP].
Dean Sage wrote from NYC with a plan to sell two stocks; he also asked for an autograph for “an interesting young lady. “Can you send it to me appended to some ambiguous (not too much so) sentiment” [MTP].
January 3 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Charles R. Deacon, secretary of the Clover Club of Philadelphia. He had been invited to a dinner on Jan. 17, but “business & social complications” made him regretfully decline [MTP]. Note: The Clover Club was a dancing club formed in 1881. It was famous for its distinguished guests and for its humorous way of entertaining them.
January 3 Saturday – Ozias Pond recorded in his diary that Sam was examined by a phrenologist (reading bumps on the head). Cardwell writes that Ozias, “infected with the humor of the two writers and amazed at Twain’s extravagance punned feebly: ‘There was nothing in it’” [33].