March 16 Friday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam began a siege with a bad cold which would keep him in bed until Mar. 23. He wrote to Gertrude Natkin:

To whom these presents shall come—greetings & salutation. And thereto—this: It’s postponed to April 10 , you little rascal. Unknown Friend” [MTAq 20].

Gertrude Natkin wrote a short reply:

To whom these presents shall come, greeting: Kindly notify my unknown friend that your little known friend will take due notice of the postponement and try to remain in utter darkness until then. / Your Little Known Friend [MTP].

Clemens’ A.D.   for this day: Schoolmates of sixty years ago—Mary Miller, one of Clemens’ first sweethearts—Artemesia Briggs, another—Mary Lacy, another—Jimmy McDaniel, to whom Sam told his first humorous story—Joshua Richmond, Sunday-school teacher, afterwards owner of Tom Sawyer’s cave, which is now being ground into cement—Philander A. Hickman, the showy young captain—Reul Gridley and the sack of flour incident—The Levin Jew boys called Twenty-two—George H. Butler, nephew of Ben Butler—The incident of getting into bed with Will Bowen to catch the measles, and the successful and nearly fatal case which resulted [AMT 1: 417-421].

Isabel Lyon’s journal:

Late this afternoon Mr. Clemens complained of cold. Oh, he is so thoughtless about uncovering himself when he is warm, and then discovering that he is chilled, but if he has cold it is largely because the germ is here in the house. Jean has it. C.C. has had it & I have had foolish intermittent attempts at sore throat. This afternoon C.C. & I went up to have Isidore Luckstone hear her sing. We picked up Charlton on the way up & when C.C. had sung the arias from Semiramedi & Henchel’s morning hymn, Mr. Luckstone gave his verdict & it was that C.C.’s breath is not as it should be. Luckstone is strong & breezy & Norsemanlike & competent & his explanations were illuminating & inspiring. Dr. Halsey came down to see Mr. Clemens late this evening, & after that C.C. & I went over to the Gilders’. There were not many people there, only 5 women & 7 or 8 men. Mme. Janvier played 2 of Dubois’ compositions most charmingly, & she read some of the Provencal poetry, she being a woman of the Midi. On our return Mr. Clemens called me in to give him an account of the evening [MTP TS 52].

March 16 ca. – Isabel V. Lyon replied for Sam to A.A. Bustard’s Mar. 14 inquiry as to where he might buy 1601: “It was privately printed—never published at all—& so far as he knows no copy of it is now in existence” [MTP]. Note: of course copies did survive and were reprinted after his death. Lyon also replied to the Mar. 14 requests from Ada Patterson. See entry. Sam also replied to the Mar. 14 from Charles Hopkins Clark about the cost of the Mar. 1 Hartford luncheon: “We’ve gotten through this time very nicely & without any bloodshed—” [MTP]. Note by Lyon: “M . Clemens sent check $15 ”