January 8 Friday – At the Villa Reale di Quarto near Florence Sam wrote to Frederick A. Duneka.
I see by the telegram in the “Nationale” that Joan of Arc was beatified day before yesterday, & that the Holy Father replied in person to the eulogy delivered by the Archbishop of Paris.
It may be that this event will presently start up a run of magazining concerning Joan. I being her American literary representative, & author of the first historical story in our late long list of that kind
of books, I don’t quite want to be silent & seem indifferent in case the run occurs; therefore I am going to send you a Joan-Eulogy & be ready.
If you presently find you need it, use it in one or another of the periodicals. If it shall turn out that you don’t need it, put it where you can find it when I ask for it; it might come handy as an Introduction to a new or holiday edition of the “Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc,” & as an advertising-detail for the same [MTP]. Note: Sam was good at anticipating marketing possibilities.
Sam also wrote to unidentified persons (Concordia press club?) whom he addressed as “My dear Friends of other days.” He wrote the note in German and then translated it as well, in case his German couldn’t be read. “I am sorry I am several days too late, but your letter did not reach me until to-day. It went to Rome (where I do not live) & was delayed. With New Year salutations & best wishes to the Concordia, I am…”[MTP]. Note: Sam spoke at the Concordia press club in Vienna on Oct. 31, 1897.
This is the earliest known date that Sam began dictating autobiographical memories to Isabel Lyon, who did not take shorthand. Most of these dictations have been lost, with only six surviving, and four of them being portraits of friends: on “John M. Hay,” on “Robert Louis Stevenson,” on Thomas Bailey Aldrich,” and on H.H. Rogers. Two dictations are reminiscences: “Notes on ‘Innocents Abroad’” and an untitled sketch recalling his first use of a typewriter. The sixth is a long diatribe about the Villa di Quarto and the Countess Massiglia [AMT 1:20n50, 22].
In New York, H.H. Rogers wrote to Sam
I have neglected answering your esteemed letter of the 16th ultimo [Dec. 16, 1903], and I trust this will find Mrs. Clemens in much better health and you in better spirits in consequence.
The “Italian Without a Dictionary” has been published and the Harpers have sent us about ten thousand dollars which Miss Harrison will give you full particulars about later.
There had been sickness in the Broughton family and the Coe baby had “been at death’s door,” but all were now better. There was nothing to write save he had never been so busy. They saw a lot of Dr. Clarence Rice. Rogers was going to the opera this evening and expected “a good nap” [MTHHR 549-50].
Arthur W. Higgs, Florence real estate agent, wrote to Sam about his interest (expressed through Gregory Smith) in the Villa Suricciarduin (sp?). The villa was available at once [MTP].
Isabel Lyon wrote to Harriet Whitmore, who had been Isabel’s prior employer.
Perhaps you may be interested to know how very entirely Mr. Clemens absorbs all my time—every minute of it—even my evenings. I attend to an infinite number of Things for him, and when he is lonely and restless we play cards—play cards? Why I play with him all day Sunday even. He is delicious; this morning he had a run of very bad luck and biting his cigar hard he said “Christ couldn’t Take Tricks with the kind of cards you give me.” Oh darling Mrs. Whitmore you have given me all this joy, and Truly I am the wealthiest woman ever. There is a side of the life here that is most exquisite and hallowed; and Mr. Clemens lives much in the past— There are days when he restlessly paces the “lonely house,” and has not yet begun any real work—beyond a short article on “Copyright” that appeared in N. American Review for January. I have very little to do with Jean—never go out with her any more; you see Mr. Clemens wants his secretary on deck—and when he can have her services when he needs them [Trombley, MTOW 32-3].