December 12 Friday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam replied to Daniel Carter Beard’s Dec. 10.
You are right—it is never too late to say the kindly word, when one can say it as heartily & cheeringly as you do. You have done great work in great causes, & I have walked by your side. We have our reward: the consciousness that your child (whom God preserve!) & my children will not be ashamed of us when we pass on.
Peace & prosperity be with you & yours always, Dan Beard. And my love therewith [MTP].
Sam also wrote to Barbara Mullen, of Hannibal High School.
It is touching to me, & fills me with grateful pride to be so remembered & so honored in my old home; & I thank you, & beg that you will thank the class for me.
That same old portrait! This time it is “Mark Twain at 67”—I am thankful for that improvement. I have seen that caricature in the four quarters of the globe—it is the one always used—& have duly blackguarded it. Why, do you know, it has been doing duty ever since I was 18. Sarony made it & 16 others, & it was the worst negative in the lot. I never stopped damning him until he died & went into more competent hands.
Yes, I will send you a picture presently, & gladly. I sat for one in Princeton a short time ago when I attended the inauguration of President Woodrow Wilson. It may be good, it may be bad, but any way it will be better than that Sarony libel; so I will send for a sample & forward it to you [MTP].
James B. Pond wrote to Sam, enclosing a rather inscrutable “HISTORY TEST” about Greek Games, Delphi and their beliefs about death. No letter or note directly to Sam is included, and no envelope is in the file [MTP].