March 24 Tuesday – The Howellses put on a tea for Livy Clemens. In his Mar. 19 letter moving up the date for the Tavern Club gathering with Sam, Howells wrote:
Mrs. Clemens must not think we are putting up much of a party on her. It will be short and sharp, and she will feel better when it is over. Don’t let her be tired by apprehension of it. We are joyous to think of seeing you both [MTHL 2: 523-4].
March 25 Wednesday – Sam’s article, “The Carson Fossil-Footprints” was re-printed in the Sacramento Record–Union. The Twainian article speculates that this article, which was misdated by Merle Johnson in his 1935 bibliography, was planted by Sam as a way of promoting Huckleberry Finn, and because he knew an old friend on the staff of the paper [May-June, 1949 p1]. Note: Budd’s list, furnished by Thomas Tenney, shows this piece for 1884 in&nbs
March 26 Thursday – Sam and Livy returned home from Boston on Mar. 25 or 26.
March 28 Saturday – In Hartford, Sam wrote to Reginald Cholmondeley of Shrewsbury, England. (Cholmondeley had warned Sam about the Australian imposter.) Reginald had asked if feuds like the Shepherdson-Grangerford trouble were factual. Yes, they had existed in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas, just like he’d described in Huck Finn.
March 29 Sunday – N.E. Collins wrote from Pittsburg to praise HF [MTP].
March 31 Tuesday – Sam spoke at the Tile Club Dinner for Laurence Hutton in New York City—the title of his talk “On Speech-Making Reform” [Fatout, MT Speaking 190-3]. Note: Fatout says this speech is conjectural for this date.
Sam inscribed a copy of HF to Mary Mason Fairbanks: “To / Mother Fairbanks / with the love of her eldest, / The Author. /~ /March 31, 1885” [MTP].
April – On an unknown Friday evening in April, Sam wrote from New York City to Charles Webster of his plans to go home to Hartford in the morning and stay there for the time being unless Webster needed him back in New York.
April 1 Wednesday – Sam’s Mar. 28 letter to Frank A. Nichols ran in the New York World. It was widely copied in other papers [MTHL 2: 526n2].
In Hartford, Sam wrote to an unidentified lady who had asked if he might send his short tribute to Adam. Sam replied positively and sent her a paragraph from Innocents Abroad [MTP].
April 2 Thursday – On or just after this day, Sam telegraphed from Hartford to Frederick Dent Grant (1850-1912), son of General Grant. Sam’s note was in response to an Apr. 1 letter from Gerhardt, who was in New York at the time. “I hope you can speak a moment with Gerhardt.
April 3 Friday – Sam wrote on the envelope of a letter from Karl Gerhardt:
“Telegraphed Gerhardt not to send this letter—leave the matter alone or put it in General Badeau’s hands” [MTP]. Note: Adam Badeau was an old friend of Grant’s and one of his closest advisors during the war. He was an accomplished writer and also a public figure [Perry 72-73].
Sam also wrote from Hartford to Miss Wachschlager, probably an autograph seeker.
April 4 Saturday – From Sam’s notebook:
“General Grant is still alive to-day, & the nation holds its breath & awaits the blow” [MTNJ 3:127].
The Hartford Courant ran Sam’s Mar. 28 letter to Nichols, prefaced by these remarks about the Concord Library and the Boston Advertiser:
April 5 Sunday – In Hartford, Sam wrote to Charles Webster.
“Livy forbids the ‘Prefatory Remark’—therefore, put it in the fire.”
Sam also discussed the son, age 34, of brilliant criminal lawyer Samuel F. Jones, who was looking for a position. Sam referred him to Webster to evaluate as a state agent for book sales. Sam also vowed to raise the money for Hamersley necessary for the “type-writer speculation” [MTP]. Note: Paige typsetter.
April 6 Monday – Sam added a PS to his letter of Apr. 4 to Webster. He noted that the man made two errors in an enclosed galley proof, but the Paige machine made “not a single error” [MTP].
Karl Gerhardt wrote “I carried bronze bust to Col Fred Grant this afternoon and he gives it to his mother. I give the other members of the family terra cotta busts” [MTP].
April 7 Tuesday – Sam presented and signed a copy of his “Burlesque Autobiography” to Wellington Evarts Parkhurst: “Hartford, Apl 7/85. W.E. Parkhurst, Esq.” [MTP]. Note: Wellington Evarts Parkhurst of the Framingham, Mass. Parkhursts, brother to Dr. Parkhurst of New York, famous for his fight against Tammany Hall. If so, (1835–1897?).
April 8 Wednesday – Sam went to New York on his way to Philadelphia, a trip which he’d expected to take Livy. She had a bad cold and a headache, so she did not go. Sam wrote late from New York to Livy of his disappointment on leaving her home. He went to General Grant’s in the evening.
April 9 Thursday – In Philadelphia Clemens inscribed a drawing to the Clover Club, where he was to speak in the evening. “Ys Truly / Mark Twain” [MTP].
Sam read “The Tragic Tale of the Fishwife” at the Actors Fund Fair, Academy of Music, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Fatout’s introduction in Mark Twain Speaking, p.194:
April 10 Friday – Before leaving for New York, Sam wrote from Philadelphia to Karl Gerhardt, recommending Erastus Brainerd, who had inquired after Gerhardt “with great interest” [MTP]. Note: Brainerd (1855-1922) a Connecticut native and Harvard graduate was a journalist. He would later move to the Northwest and become editor of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
April 11 Saturday – Sam wrote a one liner from Hartford to S.L. Caldwell, accepting for Susy and himself the invitation sent. Caldwell’s identity and the event referred to are unknown.
April 14 Tuesday – Orion Clemens wrote: “I humbly apologize. / I did not expect you to write a letter, but merely send the photograph and autograph. I will send to Charley for the book for Fitzgerald.” [MTP].
George P. Lathrop for Am. Copyright League wrote “I happened to be in the Century office to-day, just after you had left. Now look here: this won’t do. If you can come down here just to attend to your sordid private interests, you can read twice for the Cause” [MTP].
April 15 Wednesday, before – In Hartford, Sam sent a note to James B. Pond asking him to send James Redpath $200, that he would refund it later [MTP]. Note: from the Apr. 15 note repaying this amount, which Sam wrote he “was forgetting about,” it stands to reason this request was most likely made at least a couple of weeks prior to Apr. 15, and should more properly be entered earlier.
April 16 Thursday – John Linahan wrote from St. Louis to suggest a subject for the next book: a Comic History of the U.S. [MTP]. Readers would have to wait for Stan Freburg on this one.
April 19 Sunday – Sam wrote a short note from Hartford to James B. Pond, inviting him to the Clemens’ home Wednesday evening, Apr. 22 for a presentation of P&P by Susy and crew. Jean Clemens added scribbles to the top of the note, to which Sam referred:
“The above is a postscript—I should say an ante-script—by Jean—& she has gone off without translating it”[MTP].
April 20 Monday – Howells wrote from Boston to Sam, advising him not to use his Cornell speech on Apr. 29 to defend Huck Finn against the Concord Library Committee—he thought them:
April 21 Tuesday – Sam visited U.S. Grant at 9:30 a.m.
Albert H. Dowell wrote a begging letter “for a few dollars” from HahnemannHospital, NYC [MTP].
Webster & Co. wrote, Gerhardt to Webster Apr. 19 enclosed: “We refer the enclosed to you as it is something which you are personally concerned” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Send 1000”
April 22 Wednesday – The Prince & the Pauper play was re-staged by the Clemens and neighborhood children. This may have been the time Sam played the part of Miles Hendon. James B. Pond had been invited the prior Sunday [Apr. 20 to Pond].