November 30 Tuesday — Sam’s 74th and last Birthday. Paine writes of the day and his gift:
On the morning of his seventy-fourth birthday he was looking wonderfully well after a night of sound sleep, his face full of color and freshness, his eyes bright and keen and full of good-humor. I presented him with a pair of cuff-buttons silver-enameled with the Bermuda lily, and I thought he seemed pleased with them.
It was rather gloomy outside, so we remained indoors by the fire and played cards, game after game of hearts, at which he excelled, and he was usually kept happy by winning. There were no visitors, and after dinner Helen asked him to read some of her favorite episodes from Tom Sawyer, so he read the whitewashing scene, Peter and the Pain-killer, and such chapters until tea-time. Then there was a birthday cake, and afterward cigars and talk and a quiet fireside evening.
Once, in the course of his talk, he forgot a word and denounced his poor memory:
“I'll forget the Lord’s middle name some time,” he declared, “right in the midst of a storm, when I need all the help I can get,”
Later he said:
“Nobody dreamed, seventy-four years ago to-day, that I would be in Bermuda now.” And I thought he meant a good deal more than the words conveyed.
It was during this Bermuda visit that Mark Twain added the finishing paragraph to his article, “The Turning-Point in My Life,” which, at Howells’s suggestion, he had been preparing for Harper’s Bazar [MTB 1544-5],
Margery Hamilton Clinton wrote from Toronto, Canada.
Dear Mr. Clemens,
I am almost sure to-day is your birthday and want to send you the very best wishes. If it is not your birthday keep the wishes just the same.
I wonder where you have gone for your change of air. I suppose South—not up in this part of the World. I hope it will do you ever so much good. Affectionately ...
P.S. my mind must have been wandering when I addressed that envelope to you that you sent back in disgust [MTP].