Home at Hartford: Day By Day

June 6 Saturday – Sam gave a matinee reading, the second for the Art Society Benefit, Unity Hall, Hartford. His selections: “Trying Situation,” “Short Story” [Fatout, MT Speaking 656].

June 6 Sunday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Charles Webster about book publishing matters and royalties, comparing royalties to the overall worth of books already taken for memoirs of General George McClellan and General Philip H. Sheridan (1831-1888).

June 6 Monday –

Check #  Payee   Amount  [Notes]

3715  Mssrs. Aitken Son & Co.  12.00  Machinist

3716  Mssrs B. Altman & co  43.98

3717  Mssrs Arnold Constable & Co  382.30  Dry Goods

3718  Mr Orion Clemens   175.00

June 6 Wednesday – In Hartford Sam responded to Andrew Chatto that “everything proposed” by Christian (Baron) Tauchnitz was “satisfactory” [MTP]. No doubt this had to do with publishing Sam’s Library of Humor in Europe.

It’s not clear where Livy was at this time (New York?), because Sam, in Hartford, telegraphed her:

When you see House tell him to save that remark about publishers it may come good yet [MTP].

June 6 Friday – Frederick J. Hall wrote to Sam and enclosed a $4,000 promissory note “which was paid the other day.” A Mr. H.A. D’Arcy was “very much exercised” when told he couldn’t get the plates for P&P to use in the Tommy Russell Prince & Pauper Company. Hall would consult Whitford [MTP]. Note: D’Arcy wrote to Sam on June 11.

June 7 or 14 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to their ailing family doctor, Cincinnatus A. Taft, offering for him to be carried on a water bed to their home to escape the “cannon, the brass bands & shouting, & the other noisy harassments of Buckingham Day.” The family was leaving on June 17 but would “gladly & cheerfully” stay if “our staying can be also of service” [MTP].

June 7 Monday – Orion Clemens wrote to Sam. “It will remind you of the fable of the mountain and the mouse, when I tell you I have worked hard all week on my book. Edgar A. Poe said he wrote the last verse of the Raven first, and that books should be written backwards…Tell me what you think? This doesn’t look like writing for money, does it? / Love to all” [MTP].

June 7 Tuesday – Sam left the family in Branford, Conn. and went back to the Hartford house, which was being decorated for some sort of event. Sam wrote to Livy at 8:45 P.M. that he’d helped Mr. Beals to string flags of countries around the balconies, and nixed a giant arch that bore “letters as big as your head” spelling out “The Home of Mark Twain.” Katy Leary made up a bed for Sam on the study divan [MTP].

June 7 Wednesday – Sam telegraphed from Hartford to Charles Webster about mailing a check to buy 80 shares of a stock suggested by Webster, which may have been for American Bank Note Co. (See June 12 letter to Webster) [MTP].

Orion Clemens wrote from Fredonia to Sam. Ma had experienced some sort of “spasms” and he related her care. It was a “terrible fright” [MTP].

June 7 Thursday – Sam gave a reading at the Decorative Art Society, home of Mrs. Franklin Whitmore, Farmington Avenue, Hartford. According to the Hartford Courant, June 8 p.2, “City Briefs,” there were a series of readings from Sam’s writings to about 150 members and friends.

June 7 Sunday – The last entry in Sam’s “A Record of the Small Foolishnesses of Susie & ‘Bay’ Clemens (Infants),” was made this day.

Livy Clemens’ diary:

“I am reading with great interest George Elliott [Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)’s Life by her husband J.W. Cross.] It is most delightful….The only thing in the book that annoys me is her constant mentions of her ill health.”

June 7 Monday – In Hartford Sam finished his letter about the foul-smelling tap water. He complained of holding his nose while brushing his teeth. He enclosed a clipping from page two of the Hartford Courant for June 5, 1886, citing tastings by some committee denying that the water had a fishy smell.

June 7 Tuesday – “The Clemenses, the Charles Dudley Warners, and Grace Elizabeth King boarded a train and traveled to Frederick E. Church’s “Olana,”his imposing mansion near Hudson, New York” [MTNJ 3: 293n227]. (Editorial emphasis.) Church was a painter. Grace King wrote of the trip later that day to May King McDowell, another sister.

June 7 Thursday – Charles Scribner for Scribner’s & Sons wrote to Sam (enclosed in Webster & Co. June 8) seeking an interview about the General Sheridan book [MTP].

June 7 Saturday – Frederick J. Hall wrote to Sam of his need soon to go to Chicago and Minneapolis to organize and get things started in those agent offices. Nobody understood the LAL installment plans except Thomas M. Williams, who was managing it from N.Y. Sam wrote “Important” on the envelope [MTP].

June 8 Tuesday – Clara Clemens’ sixth birthday.

Sam wrote from Hartford to Moses S. Beach, who had sent Sam an unnamed “text” and an invitation to visit. Sam thanked him and “Miss Emma” (Emma Beach) but since they were about to start to Elmira for “a long summer vacation” they couldn’t accept [MTLE 5: 120].

June 8 Wednesday – Clara Clemens’ seventh birthday.

Sam gave a speech at the Army of the Potomac Banquet, Allyn House, Hartford: “The Benefit of Judicious Training” was the toast that Sam responded to [Fatout, MT Speaking 151-4]. West Point was the example Sam gave as the basis for his advice:

“All I know about military matters I got from the gentlemen at West Point, and to them belongs the credit” [Leon 148].

June 8 Thursday – Clara Clemens’ eighth birthday was celebrated with a party for 67 children at the Farmington Avenue house. In his notebook, Sam entered: “Osgood get a Longfellow for Clara’s birthday” [2: 460]. Longfellow died on Mar. 24; soon after, Houghton, Mifflin & Co. published a volume of his works. Sam believed Jean picked up scarlet fever at the party [MTNJ 2: 487n186].

June 8 Friday – Clara Clemens’ ninth birthday. Sam noted amusement at Clara’s efforts to understand his penciled comment on the flyleaf of John Abbott’s (1805-1877) Daniel Boone: “A poor slovenly book; a mess of sappy drivel & bad grammar” [Gribben 4].

June 8 Sunday – Clara Clemens’ tenth birthday.

Sam wrote in German to Edward K. Root. Translated by Sotheby’s:

June 8 Monday – Clara Clemens’ eleventh birthday. She received a lawn tennis set, Livy recording the gifts in her diary [Mark Twain News 39.2 (Summer 1995): 9].

Sam took the early morning train to New York and took a room at the Everett House. From Livy’s diary:

June 8 Tuesday – Clara Clemens’ twelfth birthday. Margaret (“Daisy”) Warner gave her a box of cologne. Warner wrote to her father (George) on May 27 asking him to buy the cologne when he was in New York [MTP].

June 8 Wednesday – Clara Clemens’ thirteenth birthday. It’s not known if Clara went with her parents for the short stay at Frederick E. Church’s.

Grace King added to her June 7 letter to her sister:

After breakfast, Wednesday —

June 8 Friday – Clara Clemens’ fourteenth birthday.

Sam’s notebook entries: Murray Hill telegraph the Delavan for me [and] check # 4146 — Delavan House, June 8 — $2.25. [MTNJ 3: 391n309]. Note: The Delevan was an Albany hotel; Sam sent a check to hold a room but it’s not known if he traveled to Albany. No evidence of such a trip was found.

June 8 Saturday – Clara Clemens’ fifteenth birthday.