December 22 Friday – In N.Y.C. Isabel V. Lyon replied for Sam to Robert K. Mackey’s Dec. 20 request for an autograph on a newspaper speech. “Cut out the speech and send it, not the entire newspaper” [MTP].
Mrs. Abigail M. Roach wrote to Sam [MTP]. On or just after this date Sam sent her the form letter for the occasion of his 70th, adding a short paragraph:
Indeed yes, I remember! I do well remember the charming schoolgirl who turned out (beyond belief) to be a matron. That whole evening [Dec. 5] was delightful, including you. / Sincerely Yours / SL. Clemens [MTP].
Sam attended a gathering in the evening that is mentioned by Frederick W. Spencer in his Dec. 27 letter to Sam: “I sat in the front row of the balcony, about ten feet from you last Friday night….” The nature of the event is revealed by Lyon:
Isabel Lyon’s journal: Tonight we went to see Bernhardt in Phedre, Mr. Clemens, Dorothea Gilder, Francesca, Jean and I. Mr. Clemens was pretty well bored, but we were in a box, so he could walk around outside when the confinement was too oppressive. Bernhardt was very fine. It is an abstract play. The damming quality of love, and the fear of love, being the dominant note in it, and Phedre the Queen is so overcome by her own intense love for Hyppolytus, that it made Dorothea say as we drove home, that “she was like an exquisite flower destroyed by its own perfume” [MTP TS 115]. Note: the play starring Sarah Bernhardt, was by Jean Baptiste Racine (1639-1699).
John M. Curtis wrote from New Rochelle, NY to thank Sam for the many happy hours Twain’s books had given [MTP].
Harper & Brothers wrote to Sam asking if he would autograph one of the set of six volumes, “Best Books of Mark Twain” for an 82 year old man in Bridgeport, Conn. [MTP].
Robert K. Mackey wrote from NYC to Sam. The letter is mostly illegible but the import is a requested autograph [MTP].
Daniel O’Day wrote from NYC to ask Sam for a letter of introduction to someone in Florence, Italy on whom he might depend to secure a house there [MTP].
Mrs. Abigail M. Roach wrote to Sam [MTP]. On or just after this date Sam sent her the form letter for the occasion of his 70th, adding a short paragraph:
Indeed yes, I remember! I do well remember the charming schoolgirl who turned out (beyond belief) to be a matron. That whole evening [Dec. 5] was delightful, including you. / Sincerely Yours / SL. Clemens [MTP].
Sam attended a gathering in the evening that is mentioned by Frederick W. Spencer in his Dec. 27 letter to Sam: “I sat in the front row of the balcony, about ten feet from you last Friday night….” The nature of the event is revealed by Lyon:
Isabel Lyon’s journal: Tonight we went to see Bernhardt in Phedre, Mr. Clemens, Dorothea Gilder, Francesca, Jean and I. Mr. Clemens was pretty well bored, but we were in a box, so he could walk around outside when the confinement was too oppressive. Bernhardt was very fine. It is an abstract play. The damming quality of love, and the fear of love, being the dominant note in it, and Phedre the Queen is so overcome by her own intense love for Hyppolytus, that it made Dorothea say as we drove home, that “she was like an exquisite flower destroyed by its own perfume” [MTP TS 115]. Note: the play starring Sarah Bernhardt, was by Jean Baptiste Racine (1639-1699).
John M. Curtis wrote from New Rochelle, NY to thank Sam for the many happy hours Twain’s books had given [MTP].
Harper & Brothers wrote to Sam asking if he would autograph one of the set of six volumes, “Best Books of Mark Twain” for an 82 year old man in Bridgeport, Conn. [MTP].
Robert K. Mackey wrote from NYC to Sam. The letter is mostly illegible but the import is a requested autograph [MTP].
Daniel O’Day wrote from NYC to ask Sam for a letter of introduction to someone in Florence, Italy on whom he might depend to secure a house there [MTP].
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