August 11–14 Tuesday – Sam went to New York, business unknown, and stayed at the St. James Hotel [MTLE 2: 133].
August 14 Tuesday – Frank Fuller wrote to Sam on a long strip of 2& ½” paper, (Warren to Fuller July 20, Aug. 7 & 8 enclosed). “Dear Mark: / I will send you Mr. Warren’s letters & you shall decide. He is able & a miller. Beyond a doubt he can build up a big business & a highly profitable one at Lockport with some small help.” Fuller wanted to send the man $50 followed by more.
August 15 Wednesday – Sam sent a postcard from New York to Augustin Daly, writing that he was:
“this moment leaving for that bourne from whence no traveler returns when sober (Elmira, N.Y.)” [MTLE 2: 131].
Why and when Sam went to New York is not known, but it may have involved business with Daly and the Ah Sin production, or a continued effort to secure a producer for the Simon Wheeler play.
August 16 Thursday – Sam wrote Charles E. Perkins on financial matters; letter not extant but referred to in the Aug. 21 reply.
August 17 Friday – Sam wrote to Charles T. Parsloe; letter not extant but referred to in Parsloe’s Aug. 20 reply; evidently Sam asked how Ah Sin was going.
Bissell & Co. wrote to Sam, crediting $372.37 rec’d and billing $4000 for S. Johnson Bonds [MTP].
August 18? Saturday – In Elmira Sam sent Charles Perkins an annotated bank statement concerning S. Johnson bonds valuing $4,003.52 [MTLE 2: 132].
August 20 Monday – Sam wrote a short note from Elmira to Francis D. Clark, declining to attend an invitation for an event of the Society of Pioneers, pleading other engagements. Clark’s invitation had been forwarded from the St. James Hotel in New York [MTLE 2: 133]. Sam also turned down an invitation to the group’s annual banquet back in Jan. 1876 [MTLE 1: 30].
August 21 Tuesday – Charles E. Perkins wrote financial details to Sam, having rec’d his of Aug 16 and 20. “I leave tonight for two weeks vacation” [MTP].
August 22 Wednesday – William C. Hutchings wrote to Sam, offering to dispose of the “Sketches” pamphlets and make $300 by selling them to Aetna Life Ins. Co. who would print their ad on the back [MTP].
August 23 Thursday – In Elmira, sharecropper John T. Lewis (1835-1906) stopped a runaway horse-carriage and saved the lives of Ida Clark Langdon (1849-1934), wife of Charles, little daughter Julia (1871-1948), and the nursemaid Norah.
August 24 Friday – Sam inscribed a copy of Mark Twain’s Sketches, New and Old, to John T. Lewis, who saved Ida Langdon’s life from a runaway horse carriage the day before [McBride 36].
Charles T. Parsloe wrote to Sam: “Have secured Edwards. Business light this week. Daly gets it all. Houses average $200—only. / Will you please send me check for $50. and oblige” [MTP].
August 25 Saturday – Maze Edwards & Charles T. Parsloe wrote to Sam about Ah Sin business, enclosing a contract of this date between Clemens, Edwards and Parsloe. Edwards also wrote: “The item you speak of did appear in all the New York papers, and Mr. Fiske was the instigator of it. He now endeavors to evade it by saying it was Bret Harte who said such an event would take place. Parsloe informs me he has agreed with you for my services.
August 27 Monday – Sarah T. Crowell and Emma Gayle, Cape Cod neighbors, wrote to Clemens:
August 28 Tuesday – Sol Smith Russell wrote to Sam wishing an interview. He’d rec’d Sam’s of Aug. 25 and reported his “engagements are closed to Feb. 1st—nothing beyond—I leave New York Sunday 2nd for the south” [MTP].
August 29 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to William Dean Howells. Sam had received Howells’ letter the day before and didn’t care for one of his Bermuda articles in proof.
August 30 Thursday – Sam wrote to Mollie Clemens and his mother, Jane Clemens, who was visiting Orion and Mollie in Keokuk. Sam sent Livy’s advice that Mollie’s health would be a “bar” to her trying to run a boarding house. To his mother Sam wrote:
August 31 Friday – Maze Edwards for Wall’s Dramatic Bureau wrote from NY to Sam; not found at MTP but catalogued as UCLC # 32556.
September –Elisha M. Van Aken (1828-1904) wrote to Sam [MTP].
September 3 Monday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Mary Mason Fairbanks. Sam encouraged Mary to visit, and wrote about his desire to travel to Germany next May 1, “& settled down in some good old city…& never stir again for 6 months. Then come home.” Sam’s mother was visiting Quarry Farm, and the Clemens family would go home to Hartford the next day [MTLE 2: 148].