June – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam wrote to Chatto & Windus—a preliminary “page by itself” draft for inclusion in the front of FE, or, as it would be called in England, More Tramps Abroad (due to the past success there of A Tramp Abroad). Only the dedication, slightly changed, to Harry Rogers made it into the book. ,
EXPLANATORY NOTE
June 2 Wednesday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam wrote two notes to James R. Clemens, asking the good doctor cousin to meet him at the box office of the Adelphi Theatre on the Strand the next evening, June 3 at eight or five after to see William H. Gillette’s play, Secret Service. If James couldn’t go, would he name another day?
June 3 Thursday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam wrote to James R. Clemens confirming he’d be waiting that night (Sam did not mention family) at the Adelphi Theatre and also asked him to Sunday dinner. It was the first time noted that the Clemens family hosted since moving into Tedworth Square:
June 4 Friday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam wrote to Bram Stoker, thanking for and complimenting him on his book, Dracula, which had just issued; Stoker inscribed a copy of the book to him on June 1 [MTP: Parke-Bernet Galleries catalog].
June 5 Saturday – The N.Y. Times under its “Essays” column, p. BRA3, included a review of Sam’s How to Tell a Story and Other Essays, by Mark Twain. New York: Harper & Brothers. $1.50.
June 8 Tuesday – Clara Clemens’ 23rd birthday [MTP].
June 9 Wednesday – The Hartford Courant: June 9, p.8, “Mark Twain’s Old House”:
Building Where He Was Born is Being Torn Down.
A dispatch from Mexico, Mo. says that the old house in which “Mark Twain” was born, in Florida, near that town, is being torn down to make way for a new residence. The old house has long been one of the interesting landmarks of the town. Numerous calls have been made upon Mrs. Roney, the owner of the property, for bits of wood with which to make walking sticks and other souvenirs.
June 10 Thursday – Andrew Lang wrote to Sam
I have lost our entire address. Mrs. Lang wonders if you could lunch…alone, with us one day, and Lord Lorne is anxious to see you, if possible—I told him I would write.
June 11 Friday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam replied to the June 10 of Andrew Lang, asking him to name the day and he’d be:
“…very glad to come. I shall be delighted to see Lord Lorne again. I have a bad memory, but I have not forgotten any considerable detail of the pleasant time which he & the Princess gave me in Ottawa” [MTP].
June 12 Saturday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam wrote a postcard to Frank Marshall White: “Come down, now, & let us see if we can invent some way to repair the enormous damage which your cablegram has done me” [MTP].
June 13 Sunday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam began a note to John Y. MacAlister that he finished on June 14.
June 14 after – In London, sometime after Sam wrote he was “afraid to venture to the Savage,” MacAlister took him there. The club voted him an honorary lifetime member. Paine writes,
June 14 Monday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam wrote to William Carey, of Century Magazine.
Oh, bless your heart, that’s been attended to long ago. It was merely a reference, but I was glad I happened to mention it in time for you to get in the protest.
Love to Riley; it was good to hear the voice of him again. Tell him to prepare for the next world while he still has his faculties about him: I mean, tell him to get into debt; then if he goes to hell he will like the change [MTP].
June, mid – Sometime before June 19, the Hearst Newspaper Syndicate asked Sam to write several dispatches covering Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee Celebration. The initial dispatch was datelined London, June 19. See entry. Likely the agent of the request was the London correspondent of the NY Journal (Hearst’s second newspaper after the S.F.
June 15 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook: “Sent Chatto MS down to & including page 1024—little Ceylon boy with a twine string for clothes. / Shall deliver Bliss duplicate of above, concluding with 14th package & page 405” [NB 41 TS 31].
The Hartford Courant, p.1 “Mark Twain, ‘Innocent’,” reported:
June 16 Wednesday – H.H. Rogers cabled Sam about the NY Herald’s fund to help Mark Twain:
“All friends think Herald movement mistake withdraw graciously Langdon approves this / Rogers” [MTHHR 282].
At 23 Tedworth Square in London Sam replied to H.H. Rogers’ cable:
June 17 Thursday – The Hartford Courant ran an article on p.6, “Mark Twain,” from the Hartford Times.
June 18 Friday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam replied to Helen Skrine’s invitation (not extant) that with her “kind leave” he would “come Wednesday June 30th—7.30” He thanked Helen for inviting Clara but “she feels her bereavement still so heavily that I am not able to persuade her” [MTP].
June 19 Saturday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam wrote to James Gordon Bennett, Jr., who was heading up a NY Herald division in Paris, which published the Paris Herald, heading the letter concerning the Herald’s relief fund for Mark Twain, “Personal.”
June 20 Sunday – Sam’s notebook : “June 20. Wrote Douglas Garth, 8 Rawlinson Road, Oxford, that the tax collector had threatened to take some of the furniture & sell it, & asked him to protect us” [NB 41 TS 32].
Douglas Garth, owner of 23 Tedworth Square in London, replied by telegram to Sam’s telegram: “Just received telegram from my wife on your letter this morning am sending cheque for taxes” [MTP].
June 21 Monday – Percy Mitchell , in Paris, telegrammed: (“not aware anything had been cabled”); and wrote to Sam that James Gordon Bennett, Jr. had not returned from Paris, so Mitchell telegraphed Bennett a summary of “our conversation” Was there anything else Mitchell could do? [MTP]. Note—this about Sam trying to get the Herald fund canceled.
June 22 Tuesday – In London Sam attended the grand procession of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. Paine writes of the date and of Sam’s accounts to the Hearst Syndicate:
June 23 Wednesday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers.
June 24 Thursday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam wrote to James Gordon Bennett, Jr. in Paris, France, thinking that his letter of June 19 failed to reach him (he learned on June 25 that it had not; see letter that day to H.H. Rogers). Sam repeated his request to “close the subscription list” made for his relief [MTP].
June 25 Friday – Percy Mitchell in the Paris, France office of the NY Herald, sent a telegram to Sam, which he mentioned in the following letter to Rogers: “Mr. Bennett says he has not received any letter from you if important will you not kindly repeat it to him as he says glad to do anything” [MTP]. Note: James Gordon Bennett, Jr., of the Herald.