July 22 Saturday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: This afternoon [4 p.m.] Mr. Clemens spoke before the members of the Dublin Lake Club. It was all a surprise to them. They had imagined Mr. Thayer would speak. He was such a delight. I had never heard him before in public—so didn’t know that side of the magic of him. He touched on “Eve’s Diary,” and Eve’s characteristics, and then he spoke of the caprices of memory, introducing one delightful anecdote after another. I didn’t want to know what subject he was going to speak on, so I didn’t ask. He is so wonderful. I turned and looked toward the back of the house when we first went in, and he stood with Mr. Pumpelly. They were wonderful to look at—both of them. The embodiment of white—pure, strong, masterful years. Both of them wore pure soft white to enhance their physical whiteness. All these days Mr. Clemens is wearing white, and it’s the best ever. Both of them pure, but one of them purest—because the flame of life burns so strongly in men with their brain force, and their magnetism, and so I was uplifted and borne away up over all the others and just didn’t care about anything—only to see how people appreciated him, and a lot of them did. Col. Higginson made a charming and graceful introductory speech. A speech full of the homage that Mr. Clemens so justly deserves [MTP TS 81].

George B. Harvey wrote to Sam, concerned about a squib Sam wrote for publication called “The American League of Honest Men,” and forwarding a proof of same. The scrap was to be used in a forthcoming Harper’s Weekly “Correspondence” column, but Sam withdrew it before publication, substituting for it his burlesque advertisement “Lantern for Sale” (published anonymously in the “Correspondence” column for 5 August 1905) [MTP]. Note: withdrawn squib, under the first aforementioned title:

Sir,—It will be a great favor to me if you will contradict the report that I am getting up an organization to bear the above title. It is true that until recently I was trying to get it up, but circumstances interfered. It was my ambition to have it consist of two members, but was obliged to give it up. / Very truly yours, MARK TWAIN.