Thanks Miki.  Willis's book seems to make the issue even more obscure.  
I still have no information on the luxury car - who owned it, etc.  Also 
Willis implies the car was used to travel to Elmira in June of 1876 
whereas Fears uses it for the return trip to Hartford in September. So 
it goes ....

On 8/23/21 2:38 PM, miki pfeffer wrote:
> On Mon, Aug 23, 2021, 4:26 PM Scott Holmes <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> In my skimming through Day By Day I found this reference for September
>> 11, 1876:
>>
>> "The Clemens family returned home to Hartford [Sept 14 to Fairbanks].
>> The train trip from Elmira to Hartford took ten hours, and always
>> exhausted Livy. On this trip Sam first hired a sleeping car, which gave
>> the family privacy and lessened the stress for Livy. Their German
>> nursemaid, Rosina Hay, was able to keep the girls occupied and Sam
>> wasn’t bothered by other passengers’ talk and autograph requests. Sam
>> promised that the luxury of a private car would be a permanent one for
>> the family [Willis 103]."
>>
>> Now, looking for references in Day By Day is difficult - I can find no
>> entry of Willis but suspect it is Resa Willis.  I know nothing of her
>> book but the Amazon write up leaves me in doubt.
>>
>> "In Resa Willis's affecting and fascinating biography, we meet a
>> dignified, optimistic women who married young, raised three sons and a
>> daughter,..."
>>
>> So, if anyone has a copy of her book, "Mark and Livy: The Love Story of
>> Mark Twain and the Woman Who Almost Tamed Him",please see if any useful
>> information might be had on page 103.  There is nothing about a sleeping
>> cat in the letter to Fairbanks.
>>
>> Thanks
>>