August 28 Wednesday – In Elmira Sam wrote a gushing letter of compliment to Daniel Carter Beard about the CY illustrations.
I do not know of any quality they lack. Grace, dignity, poetry, spirit, imagination, these enrich them and make them charming and beautiful; and wherever humor appears it is high and fine, easy, unforced, kept under mastery, and is delicious [MTP].
August 29 Thursday – Francis Dalzell Finlay wrote from Pitcher Creek, Texas to Sam:
August 30 Friday – Sam’s notebook: [chk#] 4406. WH Frost, Aug. 30 $16. [3: 491]. Note: not identified.
Daniel Whitford for Alexander & Green wrote to Sam; the ink is smeared to the point of illegibility, but the subject revolved around seeing posters using Mark Twain’s name while he and Fred Hall were in Buffalo, and possible permissions Sam had given for the use of his name [MTP].
August 31 Saturday – In Elmira Sam responded to a message (not extant) from William J. Hamersley that the typesetter would not be ready Sept. 1 as hoped. Sam was in a tight spot financially, and the continual delays and hitches in the typesetter made it impossible for him to obtain help from Livy’s brother, Charles Langdon, who was about to leave with his family for a year abroad. Explaining that the earlier stoppage on Aug. 2 was expected, Sam continued:
September – Sometime during the month Sam inscribed a copy of The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood to Elsie Leslie Lyde: To Elsie Leslie Lyde. / This book is for you, my dear, & / you will like it. / Mark Twain [MTP].
September 1 Sunday – In Elmira Sam telegraphed William J. Hamersley about Charles Langdon and the latest offer Sam made to him:
He drove up this morning to talk. Was surprised at my proposition when I re-stated it. He wouldn’t touch it. Said he supposed I was proposing to sell a perpetual lien, parting with it out & out, a stipulated sum for each thousand dollars cash [MTNJ 3: 516].
September 2 Monday – Daniel Carter Beard wrote compliments to Sam: “It is a great pleasure for me to know that my pictures are admired by the author and a still greater pleasure to receive personal acknowledgement of his appreciation” [MTP].
Orion Clemens wrote to Sam, ashamed that he was “so slowly with the Kings,” and had spent all morning on the lawn and related all the projects the house needed. [MTP].
September 3 Tuesday – Frederick J. Hall wrote two notes to Sam. Payment had been offered to Samuel E. Dawson for arranging a contract with the Rose Publishing Co. of Toronto for CY. (Dawson was no longer in the book publishing business). Hall conveyed that Dawson would not take payment, but would accept a set of the Library of American Literature [MTLTP 257n3]. Hall also enclosed a copy of the contract with Rose Publishing.
September 4 Wednesday – In Elmira Sam wrote to Franklin G. Whitmore about the family’s plans to return to Hartford:
We leave here the morning of the 10th. We stop at the Murray Hill from the evening of the 10th to noon the 12th. / Mail no letters for me here later than afternoon of 7th. Send them to Murray Hills, marked “to be kept till called for” [MTP]. Note: Sam’s plans went awry, for the family did not leave Quarry Farm until Sept. 16.
September 5 Thursday – In Elmira Sam wrote to Frederick J. Hall, directing him to send revision proofs of CY to Howells and also to Andrew Chatto. Sam liked the Canadian contract and was obliged to Samuel E. Dawson of Dawson & Brothers, his Canadian printer. Other details filled out the letter:
September 7 Saturday – In Elmira Sam responded to a letter from Nellie Bunce (See June 9, 1888 entry for more on Nellie). Sam waxed eloquent about a “feeling” he shared with Nellie, and invited her and her husband to visit. He was in a poetic mood:
We who have our home in this divine far country, spread its hospitable gates wide to you, & say out of heart & mouth, Enter in, ye are welcome! [MTP].
September 10 Tuesday – Sam made a solo trip to New York City, as family plans to leave Quarry Farm by this day had changed. On the train he noted the boy who sold him a Sept. Harper’s [MTNJ 3: 519&n121]. He stayed at the Murray Hill Hotel through Sept. 12 and then returned for a few days before leaving Elmira with the family for Hartford.
September 11 Wednesday – Most of the errands on Sam’s above list were probably completed this day. Plus, he had a 3 p.m. Sept. 11 appointment with his lawyer, Daniel Whitford of Alexander & Green to discuss what to do about a theatrical manager named Jacobs who was putting on an unauthorized play of Tom Sawyer in Buffalo. On the same line he planned to see William Mackay Laffan at 11 a.m. His “telegram home” is not extant.
September 12 Thursday – Sam returned to Elmira to gather the family for the trip home to Hartford [MTNJ 3: 519n121].
G.A. Bates wrote on Pratt & Whitney letterhead to Sam that Paige and Davis were absent from the city so the machine would not be started till they returned. “Everything is looking well and satisfactory” [MTP].
September 13 Friday – In Elmira Sam wrote to John C. Bostelmann, the Clemens girls’ music teacher whom Clara Clemens raved about in her July 15 (spelled there Bostlemann). Sam enclosed a check and wrote that even though the amount was owed for the lessons, “They were worth a great deal more.”
September 14 Saturday – On or just after this day Sam responded to E.H. Butler’s letter (below) through Franklin G. Whitmore. He didn’t recall the piece Butler asked about but told Whitmore if it was a sketch he wrote it must be in Mark Twain’s Sketches, New and Old or The Stolen White Elephant [MTP]
Sam also wrote to Charles J. Langdon in New York, letter not extant but referred to as “pleasant” in Langdon’s Sept. 29 [MTP].
September 15 Sunday – Sam wrote to Charles J. Langdon in New York, letter not extant but referred to along with Sam’s Sept. 14 as “pleasant” in Langdon’s Sept. 29 [MTP].
September 16 Monday – Clara Spaulding Stanchfield invested $5,000 in the Paige typesetter; she was to receive a five-dollar royalty on each machine sold or rented; Sam increased this to six dollars [MTNJ 3: 277n174; 521&n128].
Sam’s notebook: [chk#] 4410 RR. fares, Sept. 16, $33 [3: 492].