November 25 Monday – The Batavia reached Boston. Sam de-boarded and took Englishman C.F. Wood and Fijian servant on an express train for Hartford. Near Enfield, Conn. the train narrowly avoided being derailed by a drunk New Haven printer attempting to exact revenge for being forcibly thrown off a train for lack of fare. The Hartford Times Nov.
November 26 Tuesday – Sam took C.F. Wood and servant to the train. Wood crossed the continent by the Great Pacific Railway and sailed from San Francisco for New Zealand, stopping at the Sandwich Islands [MTL 5: 231n2].
Mollie Clemens and Sam wrote from Hartford to their mother, Jane Lampton Clemens and Pamela Moffett.
November 27 Wednesday – Livy’s 27th birthday.
November 29 Friday – Horace Greeley, defeated earlier in the month for president by Grant, died from brain inflammation.
November 30 Saturday – Sam’s 37th birthday.
December – Sam wrote to the Editor of the Literary World about unconscious plagiarism in Innocents Abroad. Unconscious plagiarism was an idea that Sam spoke about in an 1879 speech honoring Oliver Wendell Holmes [MTL 5: 232, 233n4].
December 3 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to the editor of the San Francisco Alta California. Sam intended the letter to be printed, and it was on the front page of the Dec. 14 issue. The appeal was for Captain Ned Wakeman, who was suddenly stricken with paralysis while at sea. Wakeman partially recovered but died at age 57 [MTL 5: 233].
December 5 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to his mother and family in Fredonia, asking for any two of them to visit during the winter and for “a couple of you here for Christmas.” Livy couldn’t handle any more than two guests at once [MTL 5: 240].
December 6 Friday – Sam’s letter, “Concerning an Insupportable Nuisance” dated Dec. 5, ran in the Hartford Evening Post [Camfield, bibliog.].
December 7 Saturday – Sam’s letter, “The Missouri Disaster” dated Dec. 5, ran in the New York Tribune [Camfield, bibliog.].
December 10 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Thomas Nast, thanking him for his autograph that he sent to Mary Fairbanks’ son, Charley, a fan of Nast who later became his protégé and even named a son after him. Sam also was grateful for Nast’s role in helping to elect Grant over Greeley in the recent election.
My Dear Nast—
December 14 Saturday – Sam’s LETTER FROM “MARK TWAIN” “Appeal for Ned Wakeman” dated Hartford, Dec. 3, ran in the San Francisco Alta California.
December 15 Sunday – In a Springfield (Mass.) Union article of Dec. 20, an account and description of Sam attending Twichell’s church was published. Sam was a regular member in his early Hartford days.
December 17 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Thomas Nast, thanking him for his help for Charley (Charles M.) Fairbanks and complementing him on Nast’s Almanac.
“I wish you could go to England with us in May. Surely you could never regret it. I do hope my publishers can make it pay you to illustrate my English book. Then I should have good pictures. They’ve got to improve on ‘Roughing It ’ ” [MTL 5: 251-2].
December 18 Wednesday – Bill paid to Moore, Weeks & Co., Hartford for repair of rocker & cradle $4 [MTP].
December 19 Thursday – It was Orion and Mollie’s one year anniversary, and they dined with Sam and Livy [Livy & Sam to Jane Clemens, Dec. 20].
Bill paid to W.L. Denning for repair of rocker & cradle $4 [MTP].
December 20 Friday – The Springfield Mass. Union ran a correspondent’s article about Twichell’s church, which included a description of Sam in attendance on Dec. 15.
Livy and Sam wrote from Hartford to Jane Clemens and family. Livy wrote of Christmas and gifts sent and her joy at plans for Jane Clemens and Annie Moffett to come for the holidays.
December 21 Saturday – Sam’s article dated Dec. 3, “How I Escaped Being Killed in a Duel” ran in Every Saturday and in Tom Hood’s Comic Annual for 1873 [Camfield, bibliog.; Budd, “Collected” 1014].
Bill paid to Hartford Ice Co. 5,825lbs $23 [MTP]. Judging from other bill documents, the Clemens family went through this amount of ice every six months or so (see May 2, 1873 entry).
December 23 Monday – Sam wrote a poem for the Hartford Evening Post, “The New Cock-Robin” Answering the repeated question, “Who’s to be Editor of the Tribune” Sam suggested a different man for each verse. The Tribune had always been a favorite and even a critical paper for Sam’s need of good reviews. The poem ran in the Post on either this day or the next, and was reprinted later in several other major newspapers [MTL 5: 262]
December 24 Tuesday – Camfield gives this as the day the poem, “The New Cock-Robin “ ran in the Hartford Evening Post [bibliog.] and cites [Vogelback, “Control of Tribune” 377-80], but Vogelback only cites the Jan. 2 reprint in the Chicago Tribune [377]. Still, it is likely the Dec. 23 verse ran within a few days. Evidently, copies of the Evening Post are not available.
December 26 Thursday – In Morristown, New Jersey, Bret Harte wrote to Sam, complaining about William A. Kendall, the past “sick & needy poet” who Sam had taken up a collection for to gain passage from New York to California. Kendall had accused Harte of swindling contributors to the Overland.
December 27 Friday – Elisha Bliss wrote a royalty check to Sam for $1,718.36 [MTP].
George H. Fitzgibbon wrote on a Morning Post article, Dec. 27 about the Batavia episode: “Delighted to hear from you – All my family join unanimously and heartily in wishing you & yours a very happy & a very prosperous New Year. I enclose you a photograph of my two little daughters.” Autograph & photo requested [MTP].
December 28 Saturday – Whitelaw Reid wrote asking for a writing sample over Sam’s autograph [MTP].
December, end – Sam remained in Hartford with his family during this period and no letters from Dec. 22 to Jan. 3 have been found. Clemens may have gone to Elmira, where George MacDonald was visiting Livy’s mother [Lindskoog 26]. After returning from England, Sam was drafting an English book, so it’s probable he worked on it over the holidays. Sam got the book about a third completed and stopped.