December 1884: DBD

December 1 Monday – The Clemens family drove north a few hours to Simsbury, Conn., where Cable resided. Sam and Cable may have caught a conveyance there to Adams, Mass., on the western side of the state.

December 10 Wednesday – The Dawson Brothers in Canada and Chatto & Windus in London published Adventures of Huckleberry Finn [Powers, MT A Life 489; Roberts 22].

December 11 Thursday – Sam “rushed to David Gray’s…with Cable, arrived at noon” and had to wait for his steak to be re-cooked, and so drank two cups of strong coffee that did not agree with him [Dec. 12 to Livy, MTP].

Sam and Cable gave a second reading in Concert Hall, Buffalo, New York.

The Buffalo Times:

December 12 Friday – Sam took a train from Buffalo at 12:30 A.M. and arrived at Ann Arbor, Mich. at 10 A.M. Sam wrote from Ann Arbor to Livy:

December 13 Saturday – Two copies of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn were deposited in the Copyright Office, Library of Congress, though the official publication did not take place until Feb. 18, 1885 [Hirst, “A Note on the Text” Oxford edition, 1996].

December 14 Sunday – Sam and Cable gave a reading in Muskegon, Mich. on Dec. 14. Previously reported as Dec. 4. See SLC to Andrew Chatto on Dec. 14, also from Muskegon. Mark Twain Journal misreported the date.

December 15 Monday – Sam wrote two letters from Toledo, Ohio to Livy. After remarking on the “prettiest furniture” of the hotel the night before in Jackson, Mich., Sam told of his day:

“We got up at 5 & took the train. All the way, in the cars, was a mother with her first child—the proudest & silliest fool I have struck this year. She beat the new brides that one sees on the trains” [MTP].

December 16 Tuesday – Sam and Cable gave a reading in Whitney’s Grand Opera House, Detroit, Michigan. The Detroit Post featured the Toledo visit, observing that Sam’s gait:

…resembled the motion of a tall boy on short stilts, [with] one of the oddest looking faces ever worn by man…his neck swan-like and white, but much thicker than a swan’s [Cardwell 29].

December 17 Wednesday – Sam and Cable gave a reading in Case Hall, Cleveland, Ohio [MTPO]. Clemens included: readings from HF, “A Ghost Story,” “Personal Anecdote” [MTPO].

A review of Sam and Cable’s readings ran in the Detroit Post and included the following “interview”:

A “POST” REPORTER DISTURBS TWAIN AND INTERVIEWS CABLE.

December 18 Thursday – Sam and Cable took a Christmas break, this day being a travel day. Sam headed for New York where he spent the night at the Everett House, where he’d asked Webster to call on the morning of Dec. 19 [Dec. 15 to Webster, MTP]. Cable headed to his home in Simsbury, Conn., but stopped in New York where he appeared alone on Dec.

December 1 - Town Hall, Adams, Massachusetts
December 2 - Music Hall, Troy, New York
December 3 - Wilgus Opera House, Ithaca, New York
December 4 - Grand Opera House, Syracuse, New York

December – Sam telegraphed Charles Webster. The place and day are unknown. “Plucky lawyers are scarce in Hartford,” Sam wrote, but recommended Charles S. Cole if Webster needed a lawyer to go after the American Publishing Co., to sue for copyright in light of the piracy of The Frank Coker News Co. of Talladega, Ala. (See June 26 entry.)

December 19 Friday – Sam, after meeting with Charles Webster, probably headed straight home for Hartford, although no documentation for this date has been found. Upon reaching home, Sam was in store for a surprise.

December 2 Tuesday – Sam and Cable arrived at Albany, New York at noon. Governor and President-elect Cleveland requested an audience. Writing to Livy the next day about the meeting:

December 20 Saturday – The Dec. 20, 1884 article by H.B. Stephens, “Mark Twain’s ‘Dorg’,” which ran in Every Other Saturday, is available in The Twainian (July-Aug. 1953) p.3-4, and contains a letter from Sam to Stephens, as well as a reference to a prior incoming letter from Stephens, both letters undated and unlisted by MTP. The article (which seems to have had much input from Mark Twain) plus Sam’s letter with poem, “My Dog Burns” are given here in full:

MARK TWAIN’S “DORG”

December 22 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Laurence Hutton, congratulating Miss Eleanor Varnum Mitchell, soon to be Mrs. Laurence Hutton.

“And now I am relieved of a burden which has long been secretly oppressing my heart. Months ago, fully aware of the relations existing between you & my daughter, I was shocked & grieved to discover that she had transferred her affections to a horse kitten” [MTP].

December 23 Tuesday – Sam wrote two letters from Hartford to Charles Webster. Sam enclosed an advertisement by Estes & Lauriat of Boston for “Just ready” copies of HF, reduced from $2.75 to $2.25; Sam was infuriated.

      Charley, if this is a lie, let Alexander & Green sue them for damages instantly. And if we have no chance at them in law, tell me at once & I will publish them as thieves & swindlers.

December 24 Wednesday – Edward Zane Carroll Judson (Ned Buntline) wrote to Clemens:

My Dear—Two Fathoms—/ A Merry Christmas / to you—merrier than when / we met in Cal. & Nevada / years—long years ago, / in 67—& 68. / Will you / Kindly tell me the names / of the Subscription / Book Publishers / in your town. I have / a job for some one / of ‘em. / Resp. & Truly / E Z C Judson / “Ned” [MTP].

December 25 Thursday – Christmas – Sam inscribed a copy of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to Livy: “To / Livy L. Clemens / with the matured & perfect love of / The Author. / Xmas, 1884” [MTP].

Sam also inscribed a copy of Parts of Speech to Clara Clemens: “Merry Christmas / to / Clara Clemens / 1884. / From Papa” [MTP].

December 26 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Orion.

I am just starting off again. I ought to have answered you long ago, but am driven to death. We read in Hannibal the day before we read in Keokuk, & in Chicago the day after we are in Keokuk. Of course I shall strike for Keokuk by the first train from Hannibal; & after all shall get but little time with you, considering how far away Chicago is.

December 27 Saturday – Sam wrote from New York City to Livy, with news about Charles and Ida Langdon, and also the Cranes, who were in the city:

December 28 Sunday – Sam took the train from New York in the morning and traveled all day. He wrote at 9:30 P.M from Pittsburgh to Livy. Cable had arrived on Dec. 27. Sam asked that a letter he’d left at Hartford from a “Chicago poetess” be sent on to him. He told of an attempt by the railroad to “curtail his liberties” after breaking some rule (possibly smoking).

December 29 Monday – Sam and Cable gave a reading in Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh, Pa. Clemens included “Tragic Tale of the Fishwife,” and “Infestation of Phelps’ cabin with snakes and rats” [MTPO].

December 3 Wednesday – George W. Cable wrote en route between Albany and Ithaca to his wife, Lucy:

December 30 Tuesday – Through his attorney in Boston, George L. Huntress, Sam filed a “bill in equity” (complaint) against Estes and Lauriat booksellers of Boston for advertising Huckleberry Finn at the price of $2.25, below the $2.75 subscription rate [N.Y. Times, Dec. 31, 1884, p3; MTBus 318]. (See Jan. 14, 1885 entry.)