March 10 Monday – The Hearst newspapers New York American and Journal and San Francisco Examiner and New York Evening Journal ran a story with Mark Twain’s reaction to a recent interview with Mrs. John Jacob Astor, before she sailed the morning of Mar. 8

[NY Times Mar. 8, 1902, p.7 “What isDoing in Society”]. She was quoted:

“The men who have amassed their millions in all sorts of ways have not had advantages in their youth; they have never had the college education without which no man can be a gentleman”

Note: In the article Sam was quoted at length, objecting to Mrs. Astor’s requirement of a “gentleman.” Budd points out that “Twain convincingly insisted that this story was a fabrication,” and so the article with his purported remarks is not quoted here, save for this sentence from the fabricated speech, which is often quoted (or, rather misquoted) as being what Mark Twain thought a gentleman was: “A gentleman, a kindly, courteous, unselfish man, who thinks first not of himself, but of his fellow man, that is what a gentleman is.” See Budd’s “Mrs. Astor Injures Mark Twain’s Feelings,” Critical Essays on Mark Twain 1867-1910 (1982), p. 172-3. See Mar. 12 NB entry, where Sam asked $5,000, ostensibly in damages from the Journal.

Sam’s notebook: “Leave 9.57, meet Mr. Wright at G.C. Station at 10.30—see Mr. Butters” [NB 45 TS 5].

Note: Howard E. Wright and Henry A. Butters were officers of the American Plasmon Co.

Livy’s diary: “Sam & Mary Moffett, came for tea & dinner” [MTP: DV161].

Sam also went to William Evarts Benjamin’s N.Y.C. office inquiring about a house for sale in Tarrytown [Mar. 11 from Benjamin]. Note: though Livy purchased a Tarrytown house while Sam was on the Kanahwa, this shows he knew of available houses in Tarrytown before he left for the cruise.

John Kennedy, real estate agent 217 W. 125th St., N.Y. wrote to Sam that Appletons were “a little undecided” about selling; Perkins decided not to sell. Kennedy would have “some very choice places between Riverdale and Ardsley this week” which he would mail [MTP].

Hélène Elisabeth Picard wrote from St. Die (Vosges), France, addressing Sam with his title in the Juggernaut Club: “My dear Chief Servant” and thanking him for the asked -for autograph. In a hand very formal and very clear she called herself “one of your most devoted readers” [MTP].