July 16 Saturday – James W. Paige per Charles Van Schuyver wrote to Sam, “Yours of the 15th inst. Just received.” He elaborated on technical aspects of the motor and of the Thorne typesetter [MTP].

July 17 Sunday – Orion Clemens wrote to Sam (Orion C. Conatser to Orion July 14 enclosed) Orion called him “a Tennessee namesake of mine” and wrote asking what he would offer for the quit claim deed on the land he referred to [MTP].

July 18 Monday – In Elmira Sam sent thanks to an unidentified man for sending him a copy of “The Beecher Memorial,” which he already had. Sam mentioned he had been working on a book for three years that was “nearly half done” [MTP].

July 19 Tuesday – James W. Paige wrote to Sam enclosing a copy of additional claims about the “driver device.” He would forward a letter just received from Pratt & Whitney [MTP].

July 21 Thursday – In Elmira Sam wrote to William (Billy) Gross of Brown & Gross, Hartford booksellers:

July 23 Saturday – In Elmira Sam telegraphed Franklin G. Whitmore that he was on his way to Hartford.

July 24 Sunday – In Elmira Sam wrote his mother, Jane Clemens about being away for daughter Jean’s seventh birthday in two days; teaching a new dog to “let the cats alone” and how they’d love to visit but “it’s a long way, & even the dead can’t travel in such weather, without spoiling.” His paragraph about Jean is revealing:

July 25 Monday – In Elmira Sam wrote to his brother-in-law Charles Langdon for Livy, requesting $1,500 be remitted to Bissell & Co., Hartford bankers, with the check mailed to Franklin G. Whitmore.

July 26 Tuesday – Jean Clemens’ seventh birthday. (See July 24 entry.)

July 27 Wednesday – Sam’s telegram to Franklin G. Whitmore on July 23 about a meeting at his house “next Wednesday eve [this day]…” to “talk the thing all over have statics and other information ready,” suggests Sam’s research into the Paige typesetter and a meeting, at least informally, of stockholders.

July 29 Friday – Livy wrote to her sister-in-law, Mollie Clemens that she and Susan L. Crane were reading Charles Kingsley’s His Letters and Memories of His Wife (1877); Sam’s notebook carries a July entry which suggests he was also was reading the book:

July 31 Sunday – In his Aug. 3 to Webster, referring to this day, Sam wrote of the “fun, which was abounding in the Yankee at Arthur’s Court up to three days ago,”.

August – Sam’s notebook entries for this month carries a list of cryptic calculations for these books to be issued by Webster & Co. With columns of sales numbers and total projected sales as below (years of publication added here):

August 1 Monday – Webster & Co. Sent Sam a small, handwritten accounting showing a “Cash Book” balance of $31,506.94 [MTP].

August 2 Tuesday – The Brooklyn Eagle, page 2, under “PERSONAL MENTION”:

It is said that Mark Twain tries a new hotel every time he comes to New York. This gives greater freshness to his jokes.

August 3 Wednesday – By this date Sam had returned to Elmira, where he wrote Charles Webster, concluding “our outlook is disturbing,” with the combined income from the Pope’s book and McClellan’s book only paying expenses.

August 4 Thursday – Pamela Moffett wrote to thank Sam “very much” for answering her letter and promising “help for Charley” (Webster), who was now in Far Rockaway, N.Y. recovering [MTP].

August 5 Friday – In Elmira Sam reported to Franklin G.

August 6 Saturday – Sam wrote to Charles R. Brown, letter not extant but referred to in Brown’s Sept. 2 [MTP].

August 8 Monday – Richard Watson Gilder of Century Magazine had written Sam (unlisted in MTP’s Incoming file). Sam responded:

August 9 Tuesday – Theodore Frelinghuysen Seward wrote to Sam, asking if he might have the “idiot” comment Sam made about Tonic-Sol method being a “rational mode” over the conventional (Staff method), “which was the invention of an idiot.” Sam wrote “NO. SLC” on the letter [MTP].

August 10 Wednesday – Frederick J. Hall, responding to the obvious depression of Sam’s Aug. 3 letter, wrote encouraging news and a report on the state of the business. Since his return from the West, Charles Webster had been laid up, coming to the office intermittently.

August 11 Thursday ca. – Sam responded to the issues brought by Pratt & Whitney Co. (see Aug. 5 to Whitmore);

August 12 Friday – In Elmira Sam wrote to Franklin G. Whitmore. Sam’s Hartford bank was “running low” and Sam was in a pinch — he couldn’t get funds from Charles Langdon, who had “just sailed for Europe” and so would have to borrow to pay a bill Whitmore sent. He asked that Whitmore send the Beech Creek railroad bonds.

August 13 Saturday – In Elmira Sam responded to Charles Hopkins Clark, who evidently had asked about the inclusion of some material for the Library of Humor.