April 5 Tuesday – In Hartford Sam responded to the Apr. 4 letter from Richard Malcom Johnston (1822-1898), Georgia educator, lawyer and author of Dukesborough Tales (1883). Johnston was a “dialect humorist.” Sam would include a story from Dukesborough Tales, “The Expensive Treat of Colonel Mosels Grice” in Mark Twain’s Library of Humor (1888).
April 7 Thursday – In Hartford Sam replied to Grace W. Trout’s Apr. 7 inquiry about her sister lecturing without experience.
April 8 Friday – Sam spoke at the Union Veterans Association of Maryland Banquet, Hotel Rennert, Baltimore, Maryland – “An Author’s Soldiering” Published in Mark Twain Speaking, p.219-21. Fatout’s introduction (italics are his):
April 9 Saturday – Charles J. Langdon wrote to Sam enclosing a draft for $2,448.56 from Livy’s account; he added that Sam’s telegram (not extant) about Susy being better was very welcome [MTP].
April 10 Sunday – The Brooklyn Eagle, on Apr. 11, 1887 page 4, ran a notice of the Apr. 10 passing of John T. Raymond. See also the N.Y. Times, Apr. 11, p.1 “COLONEL SELLERS IS DEAD”.
April 11 Monday – Alfred P. Burbank wrote Sam, once again interested in a possible production of Colonel Sellers as a Scientist (The American Claimant). With the recent death of John T.
April 12 Tuesday – As reported by the Brooklyn Eagle of Apr. 13, 1887 p.5, Sam and Webster & Co. finally won a court case:
April 13 Wednesday – Sam and Livy went to New York, where they attended the 100th performance of Taming of the Shrew, starring John Drew and Ada Rehan (1860-1916), at Daly’s Fifth Avenue Theatre. William Tecumseh Sherman served as toastmaster for a midnight dinner on stage, a
April 14 Thursday – On this the 22nd anniversary of the assassination of President Lincoln, Walt Whitman gave a lecture at Madison Square Garden, including a reading of his most popular poem, “O Captain! My Captain!” (which he sometimes regretted writing.) Sam was there.
April 16 Saturday – Jackson P. Singleberry, editor and proprietor of the Horse Head county Boom wrote to Sam, the humorous letter cajoling a contribution from Twain being in The Arkansas Traveler of this date [MTP]. Note: This looks suspiciously like a spoof.
April 17 Sunday – In Hartford Sam telegraphed Augustin Daly that he would be there [MTP]. Just where he did not say.
April 18 Monday – Sam went to New York, where he wrote a brief note to Edmund W. Gosse (1849-1928), English poet, author and critic, who evidently had requested a photograph. Gosse at this time was an important critic of sculpture, writing for the Saturday Review. Sam owned a copy of Gosse’s Thomas Gray, English Men of Letters Series (1882), which was purchased Apr.
April 19 Tuesday – Sam wrote to Rev. John Davis of the Trinity Rectory, Hannibal, Mo., enclosing a form letter he’d written six weeks prior explaining his experience with the Loisette memory “system.” Sam was still sold on the method, and among the remarks he added to the form letter was this:
April 20 Wednesday – In Boston, William Dean Howells wrote to Sam:
April 21 Thursday – Charles Webster wrote that he now thought the amount due Mrs.Grant would turn out to be about $33,000 instead of $38,000; Fred Grant “seems disposed not to allow legal expenses,” but Webster argued those were clearly an “expense of publication”; McClellan was selling well and the Pope’s book was “picking up”; he would write when the 2-year accounting was ready [MTP].
April 22 Friday – In Hartford “laid up, for a day or two,” Sam answered Webster’s Apr. 21 note.
April 23 Saturday – Charles Webster wrote to Sam of the disposition of the Frank M. Scott embezzlement case, and of liquidation of old stock.
April 24 Sunday – The Brooklyn Eagle ran a long article on page 6, “COMMON SCHOOL LORE – Vouched for by Twain, But Probably Edited by Spirits.” In response to “English As She Is Taught,” the paper asked, “Is it a Juvenile or an Adult Joke Book?”
April 25 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Augustin Daly, who had sent him “a beautiful book” — probably the “book printed from the prompter’s copy of the play, [Taming of the Shrew] adorned by photogravures of Miss, Rehan, Drew, and the supper scene in the last act” [N.Y. Times, Apr.
April 26 Tuesday – Charles Webster wrote asking his “Uncle Sam” to “be a little patient in regard to that statement,” (two-year) which he wrote was a “long, laborious task” [MTP].
Check # Payee Amount [Notes]
April 27 Wednesday – In Hartford Sam telegraphed Augustin Daly to send the two tickets to the Murray Hill Hotel, New York, for the next night’s performance [MTP].
April 28 Thursday – Sam and Livy went to New York, where they checked into the Murray Hill Hotel. In the evening they used the tickets sent there by Augustin Daly, to attend a theater performance. It was farewell week for Taming of the Shrew at Daly’s Theater.
April 29 Friday – The New York Times reported on p.4, under “Personal Intelligence” that Samuel L. Clemens was at the Murray Hill Hotel.
April 30 Saturday – Sam and Livy were at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York. In the afternoon Sam accompanied a reviewing party to review the corps of cadets, and forgot to throw away his cigar before taking his place in the staff line. In the evening Sam gave his promised lecture. From Leon:
May – Correspondence between Clemens and Howells substantially lessened during the year. Sam’s preoccupation with all aspects of business and several speaking engagements, together with Howells’ new duties for “The Editor’s Study” in Harper’s Monthly, and his increasing activism in such matters as the Haymarket fiasco may explain this change.