1This notation—like all of the letter except the revision in the last paragraph and the signature, indicated by a gray background—is in the hand of Clemens's stenographer.

2Clemens's stenographer mistakes the first initial and misspells the last name of Morgan G. Bulkeley. The 9 December 1876 letter to which Clemens replies has not been found. The son of the founder of Hartford's Aetna Life Insurance Company, Bulkeley (1837-1922), a banker, was president of the United States Trust Company, incorporated in Hartford in 1872. In 1875 he had been elected to the Hartford common council and in 1876 was placed on the board of aldermen. Subsequently he was a four-term mayor of Hartford (1880-88), governor of Connecticut (1889-93), and U.S. senator (1905-11), all as a Republican. He also was an enthusiastic sportsman. He helped bring professional baseball to Hartford in 1874, and in 1875 became president of the Hartford Dark Blues. He and Clemens reportedly “had known each other since the humorist first came to Hartford, as he attended many of the Hartford Dark Blues' baseball games when Bulkeley owned the team” (Kevin Murphy 2010, 75). Bulkeley was an aficionado of harness racing at Hartford's Charter Oak Park, which opened in 1873. In 1876 he was treasurer of the Connecticut Stock Breeder's Association, formed in 1871, which managed the races at the Charter Oak track. He later became president of the track and also was a vice-president of the National Trotting Association, organized in New York City in 1870 to codify and regulate the sport (Kevin Murphy 2010, 45, 56-59, 175; Geer 1875, 41, 297; Geer 1876, 41, 297; “Trotting at Hartford,” New York Times, 9 June 1875, 7; Adelman 1981, 5-6, 24-25). It probably was the association of stock breeders that Clemens refers to in the last paragraph of the letter, with his “subscription” being a promised investment in it (see 11 Oct 1876 to Bulkeley).

3The illness that delayed Clemens's reply was dysentery, as indicated by his letter of 29 or 30 December 1875 to Joseph H. Twichell (L6, 606). On 3 January Clemens's neighbor Lilly Warner wrote her husband, George: “Mr. Clemens is still miserable—wasn't dressed yesterday when I ran in at noon. I should really think it might run into some serious trouble” (CU-MARK). But the following day she was able to tell him: “Mr. Clemens is much better & out again” (CU-MARK).