December 15 Saturday – Sam’s notebook: “N.E. Dinner?” [NB 43 TS 31].

Harper’s Weekly featured a cover portrait of Mark Twain by the renowned English artist William Nicholson. No text was given. See insert.

This issue also contained an article written by William Dean Howells:” The Surprise Party to Mark Twain.” This was a double-page picture where the characters from Twain’s books talked back to him and to Howells, with Twain making a running commentary. Howell’s joke was that he wrote the entire piece, including the parts ascribed to Twain [MTHL 2: 726; Tenney 33]. A short editorial praised Twain “for his humor, for his integrity, for the glorious example he has set, for his philosophy, his kindness of heart, and his gentleness of  manners, but, above all…the incarnation of all the virtues of civic life” [Tenney 31].

Living Age ran an anonymous review of The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg, p.695, using the same language as the Nov. review by Blackwoods [Tenney 32].

At 1410 W. 10th in N.Y.C., Sam replied to Frank E. Burrough (1865-1903), son of an old friend, in Cape Girardeau, Mo. (incoming letter not extant):

I should say it was 1852 or 1853. I remember, at any rate, that the Know-Nothing disturbances were brisk at the time. Your father & I boarded & lodged with the Paveys, corner of 4th & Wash streets. It was a large, cheap place, & had in it a good many young fellows who were students at a Commercial college. I was a journeyman printer, freshly fledged, & your father was a journeyman chair-maker. He was fond of Dickens, Thackeray, Scott & Disraeli, & was the only reading-man in the establishment, & was the only one equipped with fine literary appreciation & a sound & competent literary judgment. He & I were close comrades & close friends [MTP]. Note: Frank’s father was Jacob H. Burrough (1827-1883). See Aug. 7, 1854 entry, Vol. I.

Sam also wrote to Burton N. Harrison (1838-1904), past secretary to Confederate president Jefferson Davis, declining an invitation from the New York Southern Society. Sam had only two accepted invitations left on his list and he hoped to “get excused from them, so that I can shut myself up & get at my work” [MTP]. Note: the New York Southern Society was formed in 1886 “to promote friendly relations among Southern men, resident or temporarily sojourning in New York City, and to cherish and perpetuate the memories and traditions of the Southern people” [Yearbook of the New York Southern Society 1910, p.5].

Thomas Bailey Aldrich wrote to Sam to announce that if Howells had not told him so, his family was increasing with the marriage of his son (a twin) Charles Aldrich. “…we all are as delighted as if we were going to marry her ourselves.” The betrothed were coming to dinner and Aldrich wanted to study them for “literary purposes” [MTP].