April 23 Saturday — Jervis Langdon II diary entry:
Sat. April 23, 1910, Redding & N.Y. Beautiful weather continued. Up early. We left a little after nine the country hearse first, then Lounsbury driving Paine, Claude & I & latet Clara, Ossip & Katy in the little old coupe. Newspaper men & cameras. Reached N.Y. at 12. Met by Edward, Maj. Leigh & Mr. Duneka. Clara & Ossip went with Edward to the apartment. The rest of us to the Brick Church where he was quietly laid before the pulpit. Simple service by Dr. Van Dyck & Dr. Twichell, & then three or four thousand passing in review. Young Herald reporter & I saw the coffin into Donnelly’s hands at Hoboken Station. To Julies to dinner. All went to the car in good season & to bed by midnight [Jerome & Wisbey 153-4].
The New York Times, p. 20, Apr. 23, noted a tribute to Mark Twain by Missourians in New York:
TRIBUTE TO TWAIN BY HIS HOME FOLK
His Writings Clean Because He Was Clean, the Toast of Missourians.
A FORERUNNER OF REFORM
”The Gilded Age” an Up-to-Date Story of Grafters, Says ex-Gov. Folk—F. Hopkinson Smith’s Eulogy.
The men and women in New York who come from Missouri, the State that produced Mark Twain, held their annual dinner last night at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, and almost every speaker paid a tribute to the great humorist.
F, Hopkinson Smith said that he had been asked to attend the dinner and say something about Mark Twain because he was from Virginia, the State that gave birth to Twain’s father. “Tonight there lies cold in death almost within the sound of my voice,” went on Mr. Smith, “a clean-minded man, whose pen stood for all that is beautiful in literature.
“There was never a line from his pen that left a sting. There was nothing bitter; no sarcasm, no irony, no so-called mud-slinging; and that; too, in an age when misjudging is rampant. There was not a sentence he wrote which the purest of women could not read with pleasure. Because he was clean, therefore none of his output could be otherwise.
“I ask, Mr. President, that we rise and drink a silent toast to the memory of Mark Twain.”
The suggestion was acted upon with alacrity.
“We mourn tonight the death of Missouri’s most famous son,” said ex-Gov. Joseph W. Folk. “He had a deeper insight into nature than any author in the last century, not excepting Dickens himself. “The Gilded Age,’ he wrote twenty-five years ago describes the ways and doings of grafters better than any book written in recent years, His works have made millions of lives brighter, and the world is better for his having lived in it.”
Mark Twain as a Reformer.
Ex-Gov. Folk thought that Mark Twain’s works had marked the beginning of the great reform movement that has been sweeping over this country, and is still doing its work of regeneration, After the Civil War, he went on, people were busy trying to adjust their business and household affairs, and there was full opportunity for the sowing of the seed of corruption and their growth. Then the people, of whom the majority is always honest and straight, saw what had happened, whereupon there was a beginning made to clean out the houses of Government.
In passing he spoke approvingly of the work now being done by Mayor Gaynor and by Gov. Hughes. The Mayor’s action in the matter of excise, keeping the police as far removed from contact with saloon men as possible, Mr. Folk said, was a strategic move against graft, for wherever privileges are enjoyed somebody at some point along the line steps in and asks payment for that enjoyment.
He mentioned Gov. Hughes in stating the markers that point how far the reform movement has got in this country and State.
‘Ten years ago,” he went on, “can you think of your Legislature investigation itself, and even throwing one of its members out? Now it comes out as a matter of course.
‘But these investigations and exposures do not prove that there is more graft and vileness in Government now than they used to be. The newspapers tell more about them, because the public conscience is aroused and wants to know about them. There is more told now than used to be; there is not so much done that calls for telling.”
Speaking of the ways of grafters Mr, Folk declared that they know very well that if a clear issue of right and wrong be put before the public the immediate verdict will be for the right; and, therefore, the grafters always adroitly manage to complicate the main issue with other questions, some of them popular, so as to bewilder and confuse men of even the best intentions.
[No further mention of Clemens was found in the remaining article.]
The New York Times, p. 3, dateline Paris, France, Apr. 23:
FRENCH SNEER AT MARK TWAIN.
Ernest Charles Calls Him “the Most Laborious Humorist.”
Special Cable to THE NEW YORK TIMES.
PARIS, April 23.—Almost all of the French journals have published appreciative notices of the value of Mark Twain's literary work, One must suppose in reading these notices an extraordinarily widespread knowledge of the subtleties of the English language among Frenchmen.
A surprising exception is found in Ernest Charles, a critic much in the public view, who in a short article on Mark Twain seems determined to convince every reader possessing any degree of penetration that the views which he expresses are the product of ignorance and anti-Americanism combined. This article is published in Gil Blas, which has also been conspicuously unique in its sneering comments, not by any means witty, upon Theodore Roosevelt since his arrival in Paris.
Mr, Charles says in effect that Mark Twain did well to die, and that it was not his fault if while he was all his life the most laborious humorist, he was totally lacking in wit.
“Mark Twain’s humor,” M. Charles adds, “was painful, his fantasies dense and difficult to follow. By them, one may estimate the exact distance which separates the Yankee country from the civilized world; but anyhow, hurrah for Roosevelt!”
The New York Times, p. 3, Apr. 24, dateline Redding, Apr. 23, reported Sam’s return to Stormfield.
LAST SCENE AT THE OLD HOME.
Mark Twain, When Ill, Wouldn’t Be Carried in There—Stood for a Greeting.
Special to Tbe New York Times.
REDDING, Conn., April 23.—Less than two weeks ago Mark ‘Twain arrived at Stormfield, having been brought back from Bermuda by Albert Bigelow Paine when he was told that his friend was dangerously ill.
Mr. Clemens had to be carried from the steamer to his carriage, and in all the intermediate steps of the journey. But when he arrived at his hilltop home and the carriage drew up at the doorway, he insisted on getting out himself. This was because Katie Leary, his housekeeper for twenty-nine years, and his butler Claude, stood at the door to welcome him.
It did not suit Mark Twain’s notion of courtesy, Mr. Paine said, to be carried in and not be able to greet them properly, He weakly alighted and then drew himself up to his full height. Off came his big hat with a full sweep, and then he made one of his old-fashioned low bows and spoke to them. Not until then would he allow himself to be helped. It was the last time he walked unaided.
Today before his body was carried to New York, he lay in the beautifully furnished living room on the lower floor, among his books. He had been dressed in one of his white cashmere suits and brought down there the night before. The unshuttered windows let in a stream of sunlight, and the breeze fluttered the light curtains. It was a perfect day.
At 9 o’clock it was announced that Mrs. Gabrilowitsch, his only surviving daughter, Clara, was coming downstairs. The other members of the household withdrew and she went into the living room alone. The doors were locked. In about half an hour she came out, drawing her veil about her face, The coffin was placed in the village hearse, drawn by a team of white horses, and the little procession started for the four-mile drive to the Redding station.
Mr. and Mrs. Paine and Jervis Langdon were in one carriage with the butler, Claude, and Mr, and Mrs. Gabrilowitsch followed in a carriage which had been presented to Mr. and Mrs. Clemens at the time of their marriage, On the front seat sat Katie Leary.
As they went over the hills to the railroad station many of the townsfolks were seen in front of ‘their houses. The men uncovered as the hearse passed. On the way Dan Beard, his wife, and children joined the procession. Another group of country folk was gathered at the railroad station. Most of them were members of the Redding Library Club, in which Mark Twain was deeply interested, and to which, besides giving it all his superfluous books, he had drawn a check for $6,000 the day before his death. They stood in silence during the short wait for the train, and the men again uncovered as the coffin was lifted on the train.
Mr. and Mrs. Gabrilowitsch retired into the stateroom compartment of the parlor car. The remainder of the party was made up of Jervis Langdon, Albert Bigelow Paine, Dan Beard, and Harry Lounsbury, the Stormfield Superintendent.
The conductor of the train, which was the Pittsfield Express was M. H. Lyons. He had become well acquainted with Mark Twain owing to the fact that the author always waited for his train in going to and from the city. The dead author used to say that he enjoyed talking with Lyons.
The New York Times also ran a short article speculating the size of Twain’s estate:
HIS ESTATE PROBABLY LARGE,
Publisher Says Mark Twain’s Income in Late Years Was Enormous.
Mark Twain’s royalties from books, which have sold in larger number than the works of any other American author, left him at his death a wealthy man. A member of the firm of Harper & Brothers, who for ten years have been his publishers, discussed his books and royalties yesterday afternoon.
“There have been published in America of Mark Twain’s books,” he said, “about 5,000,000 or 5,500,000 copies. And these do not take into consideration publications abroad, which have been made in many languages. While we do not care to announce the figures Mr. Clemens received for his stories that appeared in our magazines, still it may be said that his royalties were larger than those of any other contemporaneous author, and that his books had a larger sale even in the last year than any other writer of the period.
“Mr. Clemens’s income of late years was enormous, and he always had large sums of ready money at his command, It is hardly probable that with such intimate friends as the late H. H. Rogers to advise him he failed to invest this money wisely and to his advantage.
“A short time ago Mr. Clemens desired to have his books a part of every household library, and entered into a contract with us to publish them at $25 for a set of twelve volumes. He received only a small royalty on this edition, but its sales astonished both himself and us, and we had counted on something extraordinary, too.
“Mr. Clemens’s books will sell for years to come both in this country and abroad, as he is more highly rated in Europe than he is in his own country. There he is counted a great philosopher, while here he is known at preset chiefly as a humorist.”
The NY Times also ran a short letter to the editor about Twain and Halley’s Comet:
Mark Twain and Halley’s Comet.
To the Editor of The New York Times:
I wish to draw your attention to a peculiar coincidence.
Mark Twain, born Nov, 30, 1835.
Last perihelion of Halley’s comet, Nov. 10, 1835.
Mark Twain died, April 21, 1910,
Perihelion of Halley's comet, April 20, 1910,
It so appears that the lifetime of the great humorist was neatly identical (the difference being exactly fifteen days) with the last long “year” of the great comet.
R. FRIDERICI,
Westchester, N. Y., April 22, 1910