December 10 Wednesday – In Riverdale, N.Y. about this day, Sam wrote a note to Livy enclosing Henry Van Dyke’s “nice note” of Dec. 8.
Livy darling, do you know, Ben is a dear little cuss, & ever so wise & efficient. She stops me from sending you lots of things I’ve no business to send you. If it isn’t good for you to see this nice note from Dr. Van Dyke, now, she’ll keep it back a while. What I wrote upon his plaque was—“Henry van Dyke, who knows the beautiful art of telling a story.”
He has sent me his lovely “Blue Flower” with his poem (amended) on the fly-leaf, but I shall tell him you are worthier, & I’ve given it to you. I love you, dear, / Y. [Youth] [MTP].
Isabel V. Lyon wrote for Sam to Richard Watson Gilder. “ Mr. Clemens who is very busy this nothing wishes me to say that he finds Gouverneur Morris’s book “a charming story and beautifully told.” He is very much obliged to you for having sent him the clipping” [MTP]. Note: Gouverneur Morris (1752-1816), American stateman who represented Pennsylvania in the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Theodore Roosevelt wrote a biography of him in 1888.
In N.Y.C. William Dean Howells wrote a short note to Sam. “I wonder if you have heard from Stoddard? I think a plain ‘Thankee!’ would have become him. / The way of the benfactor is hard” [MTHL 2: 754]. Note: Sam and Howells had helped Stoddard collect a debt from Herriott.
Daniel Carter Beard wrote to Sam, sending late congrats on his 67th birthday and explaining the birth of a baby girl: “she is the first child which has come to us, the event has had a bewildering effect upon me…” Beard predicted Mark Twain’s name would never die [MTP]. Note: file says Sam replied Dec. 12.
Frederick William Peabody, Boston lawyer wrote to Sam, that the N.A.R. article of Dec. 1902 would “give the old woman’s [Eddy] business more or less of a boom” by giving it publicity. Peabody planned to publish Sam’s Dec. 5 letter to him. The letter, which, “if published verbatim, would distinctly discolor at least one of its eyes,” meaning Christian Science. He asked if Sam would put aside his feelings and allow the letter to be published in the public interest. Sam’s predictable answer came on Dec. 11 [MTP].
an unidentified person wrote from Harrisburg, Pa. to Sam offering an “obituary” for his contest [MTP].
Clara Clemens wrote to Mrs. Franklin G. Whitmore thanking her for referring Isabel Lyon:
I want to tell you how thankful we are that you told us about Miss Lyon for she is really a treasure and enormous comfort;
She not only is sweet and attractive, entirely lacking any disagreeable qualities but she is also a pleasure for she has a cheerful manner and way which are particularly welcome in a house at time of illness & consequent depression
I am so glad we have her & I know my Mother will be when she knows her.
I see her very little & still have quite an affection for her [Trombley, MT’s Other Woman 20; Lystra 38].
Note: Clara’s view would indeed change about Lyon.