May 19 Friday – In Dublin, N.H. Isabel V. Lyon replied for Sam to the May 2 from Lady Margaret Jenkins in England.
Dear Madam: / M . Clemens directs me to write for him explaining that he is not feeling well enough to do so himself, owing to the results of his great anxiety caused by the recent critical illness of his eldest daughter.
M . Clemens is not going to England this year; but he wishes me to thank you very much for your kind letter, and to convey to you his sincere regards [MTP].
Isabel Lyon’s journal: Chiefs can read everybody—but who can rightly read chiefs. …Elsewhere I’ve said something of the treat Mr. Clemens gave us in commenting upon the dinner given to Whitelaw Reid and then commenting upon Reid. Reid wouldn’t be quite so self-satisfied if he knew that a man like Mark Twain had been stripping him and his actions bare, with caustic slash and precision [MTP TS 59]. Note: the Lotos Club gave Reid a dinner the night before, May 18; Sam did not go but left for Boston early on May 18.
Thomas Bailey Aldrich wrote to Sam.
It was like my luck to move into the country just in time to miss having you come and spend the night with me at 59 Mt. Vernon street. I haven’t recently wanted anything more than to have a smoke and a night-long talk with you. I am glad that I did not hear of Clara’s trouble until it was over. What takes you—excepting the train—to Dublin? I hear good accounts of the place,but why didn’t it manage to call itself by some good old Anglo-Saxon name, like Coss Cobb or Ponkapog? [MTP]. Note: Aldrich wrote of his plans for the summer on a steam yacht with his son Talbot and wished Dublin was a port. He asked after Howells, did he enjoy England?
Sheldon S. Cline, manager of The Washington News Assoc. wrote to Sam. “Will you consider a proposition to write a series of letters from Washington this winter, for publication in the leading newspapers of the country, dealing humorously with public men and measures?”[MTP].
A.I. Hall wrote from Rochester, N.H. to Sam, promoting a country residence for sale with 200 acres of “fine farm land” there for $125,000 [MTP].
Abbott Handerson Thayer wrote to Sam.
“I trust what Emma answered to Miss Jean satisfied you about her going alone with that terrible dog! / Dublin has as yet no first record of any highway rudeness to ladies. But we certainly have a plenty of foreign layovers about and a poor enough kind of [illegible word] trash…” [MTP]. Note: Jean’s dog, Prosper le Gai., a Saint Bernard, is pictured in MTOW p. 212.