27 February 1874 • Hartford, Conn. (MS: OFH, UCCL 01058)
I am in a sweat, & Warner is in anothrer. I told Redpath some time ago that I would lecture in Boston on any two days he might choose, provided they were consecutive days1explanatory note—I never dreamed of Ⓐemendation of his choosing dates during Lent, since that was his special horror—but all at once he telegraphs me & writes me, & hollers at me in all manner of ways that I am booked for Boston, March 5 of all days in the year. Ⓐemendation —& to make matters just as mixed & uncertain as possible, I can’t find out to save my life whethrer he means to lecture me on the 6th also or not.
Warner’s been in here swearing like a lunatic, & saying he had written you to come on the 4 th——& I said, “You leatherhead, if I talk in Boston both afternoon & evening March 5, I’ll have to go to Boston the 4 th”—& then he just kicked up his heels & went off cursing after a fashion I never heard of before. Now let’s just leave this thing to Providence for 4 Ⓐemendation 24 hours—you bet it will come out all right.2explanatory note
Shortly before 17 February, Charles Dudley Warner had invited William Dean and Elinor Howells to visit him and his wife, Susan, in Hartford for a few days, beginning on Thursday, 5 March. Howells accepted on 17 February, stipulating that he would be accompanied not by his wife, but by Boston publisher James R. Osgood. On 27 February, Warner asked Howells to come a day earlier, thinking that would make it possible for the Clemenses to attend a dinner party before Clemens left for Boston to lecture. (He gave only a single lecture there, on the evening of 5 March.) Howells replied on 28 February, proposing instead that he and Osgood defer their visit for a week. For the arrangement that was finally adopted, however, see 4 Mar 74 to Howells, n. 1click to open link (Howells 1979, 54; Warner to Howells, 19 Feb 74, 27 Feb 74, MH-H; Howells to Warner, 25 Feb 74, 28 Feb 74, CtHT-W; MTHL , 1:14 n. 1, 15 n. 2 top).
MS, Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center, Fremont, Ohio (OFH).
L6 , 52–53; Duffy, 4; MTHL , 1:14.
owned by William Dean Howells II (Howells’s grandson) in 1948.
More information on provenance may be found in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.