March 21 Wednesday – At 30 Wellington Court in London, England Sam replied to Frank Bliss.

All right—I perceive that I did tell Whitmore to get the asphalt-money from you. I had forgotten it. If he needs more money I will give him an order on Elmira, so that he will not have to go to you until a time when it will not inconvenience you. …

The Harpers say (by cable) that they melted the plates (except illustrations) of the Library of Humor a year ago, in accordance with orders from Mrs. Clemens. I have asked for a copy of those orders. If they can show that either she or I sent such orders, is it all right & satisfactory—otherwise it isn’t.

Sam would not agree to a Chicago firm’s idea of issuing cheap editions of HF and TS [MTP].

Note: See Feb. 22 when Sam asked Bliss if his memory had been at fault about the asphalt matter—it was.

Sam was using his account receivable from Bliss to pay a paving lien by Hartford on the Farmington Ave. house. Or, alternatively, he could have Charles Langdon in Elmira pay additional funds by draft.

At midnight, after a gathering at James Bryce’s Sam wrote to Bryce with a confession:

“Presently some gentleman will be asking who it was that carried off his overcoat tonight. It was I. But I did not do it intentionally, it was only habit” [MTP]. See June 20, 1899.

Sam also wrote to Charles Erskine Scott Wood, likely still in Portland, Ore., asking for “a couple of copies of” 1601; Sam had been “out of that humble classic for many years” [MTP]. Note: Wood was the man who secretly printed 50 copies of 1601 on a West Point press; see Feb. 21, 1882 entry.

Henry William Lucy (1845-1924) of Punch wrote to invite Sam and Livy to a luncheon next Tuesday the 27th at 1:30 [MTP]. Note: Lucy had been on the staff of the Pall Mall Gazette (1870) then as a parliamentary reporter for the London Daily News (1873) and in 1881 joined Punch, which until 1916 he contributed a weekly synopsis, “Essence of Parliament,” signed “Toby, M.P.” that made him well known. He was knighted in 1909.