May 30 Saturday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam replied to Thomas F. Gatts (1863-1915), attorney for the 1904 St. Louis Fair. (Incoming letter from Gatts not extant; see June 3 from Gatts, June 8 to Gatts.)
Dear Sir: It is indeed a high compliment which you offer me in naming an association after me & in proposing the setting apart of a Mark Twain Day at the great St. Louis Fair, but such compliments are not proper for the living, they are proper & safe for the dead only. I value the impulse which moves you to tender me these honors: I value it as highly as any one can, & am grateful for it, but I should stand in a sort of terror of the honors themselves. So long as we remain alive we are not safe from doing things, which, howsoever righteously & honorably intended, can wreck our repute & extinguish our friendships. I hope that no society will be named for me while I am still alive, for I might at some time or other do something which could cause its members to regret having done me that honor. After I shall have joined the dead I shall follow the custom of those people & be guilty of no conduct that can wound any friend; but until that time shall come I shall be a doubtful quantity, like the rest of our race [MTP].
Isabel Lyon wrote for Sam to Will Larrymore Smedley (1871-1958), artist, illustrator and writer in Chatauqua, N.Y., thanking him for the gift of “the little landscape,” which he would be glad to accept [MTP]. Note: see Aug. 29.
Sam’s notebook: contains annual estimates of American Publishing Co. profits from the sales of his books, totaling: “Only $50,000 in 5 yrs [NB 46 TS 17].