March 8 Thursday – At 21 Fifth Ave., N.Y. Sam added to his Mar. 4 to Gertrude Natkin. He would finish the letter on Mar. 9
Marjorie, I’ve got the words! The words That rhyme. The rest is easy, because No. 3 doesn’t have to rhyme with anything. Observe:
Thursday afternoon.
===
TO THAT BONNY CHILD, MARJORIE.
Marjorie, Marjorie, listen to me—
Listen, you winsome witch:
Whomever you bless with your innocent love,
That person is passing rich.
===
There, dear—that poem is as good as half done, I think. All in good time I shall finish it, will see [MTAq 17].
Sam also wrote on the Mar. 1 from Ulysses S. Grant, Jr. “I prize your friendship very highly & shall be glad to welcome you to my house when you come to New York. We will then sit down together & brush the dust off that friendship. / I do not run across Gen. Fred in the flesh, but I am glad to say I remain in touch with him” [MTP]. Note: Sam signed and dated this, likely for Lyon to copy & mail.
Clemens’ A.D. for this day: The Barnard lecture—Subject Morals—Letter from brother of Captain Toncray—Clemens reply that original of “Huckleberry Finn” was Tom Blankenship
—Tom’s father Town Drunkard—Describes Tom’s character—Death of Injun Joe—Storm which came that night—Incident of the Episcopal sextons and their reforms—John D. Dawson’s school in Hannibal—Archibald Fuqua’s great gift [AMT 1: 396-400].
Isabel Lyon’s journal noted that Sam dined with Moncure D. Conway and Andrew Dickson White, men Lyon referred to as “those 2 autobiographists” [Gribben 760: TS 143].
Later Sam spoke before the Freundschaft Society, honoring Charles Putzel, a past president of the group, who had just been named a tax commissioner. The New York Times, Mar. 9, p1:
TWAIN’S WANING CONSCIENCE.
———
No More Left Than a Millionaire, He Says at Putzel Dinner.
Four hundred members of the Freundschaft Club met at their quarters, Park Avenue and Seventy-second Street, last night, to do honor to their late President, Charles Putzel, on his appointment as Tax Commissioner. Among those who were asked to meet him all were officers or ex-officers except Mark Twain. The Chairman, Julius J. Frank, explained that the humorist was King of all Hearts and all Affection. Mayor McClellan sent a letter of regret.
Mr. Putzel remarked that when Mayor McClellan appointed him to office the members of the Freundschaft evidently assumed that he was selected to reduce the assessments on the club. The dinner was set three weeks before the close of swearing-off time. Then the club could sing:
What is it to us if taxes rise and fall!
Thanks to our Putzel, we pay none at all.
After Signor Campanari had sung the Toreador’s song Attorney General Mayer was introduced. Then ex-Controller Grout assured the new Tax Commissioner that if he needed criticism he had only to assess The Journal, The World, The Sun, The Herald, and The Eagle at their true value.
Mark Twain, who received an ovation, said:
“Mr. Putzel is related to me in a very tender way through taxes. They are a sore subject to me and I was glad to hear there was any foreign product untaxable in America except the answer to prayer.
“When I went to his office and saw Putzel in the receipt of perjury, I recognized him right away. Years ago I met him in a bookstore. I asked him the discount of a book for a publisher. He said 40 per cent. I asked him the discount to an author. He jotted down another 40 per cent. What was it to clergy? Forty per cent again.
“Well, I said, I was only on my way there, kind of studying. So he put down 20 per cent without a smile. I was in despair and asked him for 10 off, as a member of the human race. He never moved a muscle, but as I left the store called me back for the book and the 40 cents that was coming to me.
“I hoped I might get something from him now as Tax Commissioner. I put up my hand and made a statement. It was pain and grief to me, for I was brought up in the pious circles of Missouri. But a year in New York had left me with no more conscience than a millionaire. I would like to compliment him, anyway, for I may get relief next year.
“Attorney General Mayer suggested I might be a Supreme Court Judge. I can’t be that, for I know nothing of the administration of justice. But I understand from his speech he is the propagator of crime for the whole State, and, as I am reasonably familiar with crime, I might have his job [Note: Julius Marshuetz Mayer (1865-1925), New York Atty. Gen. 1905-1906. Later became a judge.
After the event Sam wrote his thanks to Charles Putzel.
Dear M . Putzel: I intended to write you the next day & still the next & the 3 next & the next day, but was always prevented by one interruption or another; & so at last you have gotten in ahead of me. I wanted to speak of the very thing you have now spoken about: the generous & moving reception accorded me, both when I entered the hall & when I rose to speak. These things go to a man’s heart & they went to mine. The praises & affection lavished upon me were as fine as anything of the kind I have had the good fortune to listen to, & none of them rang false; they were as manifestly sincere as they were fine. I was very glad to be there, & hear those happy speeches, & see that great body of choice men, & have the pleasure of shaking hands with so many of them [MTP]. Note: Charles Putzel was recently appointed a commissioner of taxation; he was also a trustee for the City College of N.Y. (1901-1910)
Sam also replied to Alex C. Toncray (Tonkray) in Chicago, who wrote on Mar. 6.
Dear M . Toncray: / It is plain to me that you knew the Hannibal of my boyhood, the names you quote prove it. This is an unusual circumstance in my experience. With some frequency letters come from strangers reminding me of old friends & early episodes, but in almost every case these strangers have mixed me up with somebody else, and the names and incidents are foreign to me.
Huckleberry Finn was Tom Blankenship. You may remember that Tom was a good boy, not- withstanding his circumstances. To my mind he was a better boy than Henry Beebe & John Reagan put together, those swells of the ancient days [MTP]. Note: mail from Chicago to NY now took only 2 days.
Isabel Lyon’s journal:
The days are so full of varied joys. I lunched with Mrs. Day & her daughter & Miss Caer was there too, that interesting woman who spent 11 months in the royal palace in China. Her accounts of her life there were delightful. One of the Chinese grandees diplomatically told her that he could send her a wonderful ointment for the hair, one that would darken it for her too. To them a blond must be really a torture for they depict their devils as fair haired.
I came home to find quite a number of things to do, people to see & telephoning, & Mr. Clemens gone to his bed tired. He was resting up too, for he dined with Moncure D. Conway & Andrew D. White (those 2 autobiographists) before going up to the Freundschaft Club at 9:30. But I had a darling chat with him, & he was interested in Mrs. Day & her Christian Science.
Mr. Dearborn came in to see if Mr. Clemens would speak in Carnegie for the Fulton Memorial Association. The idea pleases Mr. Clemens. Mr. Glover, a handsome man, came in to see Mr. Clemens, but had to see me instead [MTP TS 43-44]. Note: Harry Windsor Dearborn.
John Brown, Jr. (“Jock”) wrote to Sam, hoping he remembered him. He’d given letters of his father to his cousin, Dr. J.T. Brown, to write a memoir of his father, which was published in 1901, but little use was made of the letters. “Among the letters I got back in 1902 were some from you and Mrs. Clemens. I have now got a large number of letters written by my father between 1830 and 1882 and intend publishing a selection in order to give the public an idea of the man he was….I now write to ask you if you have letters from him and if you will let me see them and use them” [MTP].
Moncure D. Conway in NYC sent a note by messenger to Sam. “Can you come this evening at seven sharp to the Century Club to dine with Andrew D. White? / The messenger will wait for an answer, if you are in….The short notice is inevitable” [MTP]. Note: Sam went; see IVL entry this day.
Ernest A. Gerrard wrote from 104 E. 20 N.Y.C.to Sam that he was mailing a copy of France and the Maid, a play based on Joan of Arc. “I send it to you because I know you are one of the few Americans sufficiently familiar with the subject matter to appreciate and enjoy the truthful handling of the characters and events” [MTP]. Note: Sam answered ca. Mar. 10.
Lillie T. Noel wrote from Washington Training College, Wash., D.C. to relate an incident and to ask Sam’s opinion of what he might have done in that situation. It seems that during a group pose for a photograph, a lady sneezed who was sitting above a young man. Some item flew down the stairs but the lady was quicker to retrieve it than the young man—it was a set of the lady’s false teeth. What would Sam have done or said in that situation to restore the lady’s dignity? [MTP]. Note: Sam replied Mar. 10.
Philip Sawyer wrote from NYC to Sam, signing “Tom Sawyer.” He was “overjoyed to find” Sam’s “check in my mail this morning—particularly as ‘my pump had begun to suck!’” [MTP].
Virginia Taylor wrote from Barnard College to thank Sam for speaking at the College, and that he was “certainly are an angel.” She apologized for not being able to “deliver you safely home,” and that perhaps “we shouldn’t have let you accept the dinner engagement with Professor Lord” [MTP]. Note: H.G. Lord Philosophy Professor.
Marjorie, I’ve got the words! The words That rhyme. The rest is easy, because No. 3 doesn’t have to rhyme with anything. Observe:
Thursday afternoon.
===
TO THAT BONNY CHILD, MARJORIE.
Marjorie, Marjorie, listen to me—
Listen, you winsome witch:
Whomever you bless with your innocent love,
That person is passing rich.
===
There, dear—that poem is as good as half done, I think. All in good time I shall finish it, will see [MTAq 17].
Sam also wrote on the Mar. 1 from Ulysses S. Grant, Jr. “I prize your friendship very highly & shall be glad to welcome you to my house when you come to New York. We will then sit down together & brush the dust off that friendship. / I do not run across Gen. Fred in the flesh, but I am glad to say I remain in touch with him” [MTP]. Note: Sam signed and dated this, likely for Lyon to copy & mail.
Clemens’ A.D. for this day: The Barnard lecture—Subject Morals—Letter from brother of Captain Toncray—Clemens reply that original of “Huckleberry Finn” was Tom Blankenship
—Tom’s father Town Drunkard—Describes Tom’s character—Death of Injun Joe—Storm which came that night—Incident of the Episcopal sextons and their reforms—John D. Dawson’s school in Hannibal—Archibald Fuqua’s great gift [AMT 1: 396-400].
Isabel Lyon’s journal noted that Sam dined with Moncure D. Conway and Andrew Dickson White, men Lyon referred to as “those 2 autobiographists” [Gribben 760: TS 143].
Later Sam spoke before the Freundschaft Society, honoring Charles Putzel, a past president of the group, who had just been named a tax commissioner. The New York Times, Mar. 9, p1:
TWAIN’S WANING CONSCIENCE.
———
No More Left Than a Millionaire, He Says at Putzel Dinner.
Four hundred members of the Freundschaft Club met at their quarters, Park Avenue and Seventy-second Street, last night, to do honor to their late President, Charles Putzel, on his appointment as Tax Commissioner. Among those who were asked to meet him all were officers or ex-officers except Mark Twain. The Chairman, Julius J. Frank, explained that the humorist was King of all Hearts and all Affection. Mayor McClellan sent a letter of regret.
Mr. Putzel remarked that when Mayor McClellan appointed him to office the members of the Freundschaft evidently assumed that he was selected to reduce the assessments on the club. The dinner was set three weeks before the close of swearing-off time. Then the club could sing:
What is it to us if taxes rise and fall!
Thanks to our Putzel, we pay none at all.
After Signor Campanari had sung the Toreador’s song Attorney General Mayer was introduced. Then ex-Controller Grout assured the new Tax Commissioner that if he needed criticism he had only to assess The Journal, The World, The Sun, The Herald, and The Eagle at their true value.
Mark Twain, who received an ovation, said:
“Mr. Putzel is related to me in a very tender way through taxes. They are a sore subject to me and I was glad to hear there was any foreign product untaxable in America except the answer to prayer.
“When I went to his office and saw Putzel in the receipt of perjury, I recognized him right away. Years ago I met him in a bookstore. I asked him the discount of a book for a publisher. He said 40 per cent. I asked him the discount to an author. He jotted down another 40 per cent. What was it to clergy? Forty per cent again.
“Well, I said, I was only on my way there, kind of studying. So he put down 20 per cent without a smile. I was in despair and asked him for 10 off, as a member of the human race. He never moved a muscle, but as I left the store called me back for the book and the 40 cents that was coming to me.
“I hoped I might get something from him now as Tax Commissioner. I put up my hand and made a statement. It was pain and grief to me, for I was brought up in the pious circles of Missouri. But a year in New York had left me with no more conscience than a millionaire. I would like to compliment him, anyway, for I may get relief next year.
“Attorney General Mayer suggested I might be a Supreme Court Judge. I can’t be that, for I know nothing of the administration of justice. But I understand from his speech he is the propagator of crime for the whole State, and, as I am reasonably familiar with crime, I might have his job [Note: Julius Marshuetz Mayer (1865-1925), New York Atty. Gen. 1905-1906. Later became a judge.
After the event Sam wrote his thanks to Charles Putzel.
Dear M . Putzel: I intended to write you the next day & still the next & the 3 next & the next day, but was always prevented by one interruption or another; & so at last you have gotten in ahead of me. I wanted to speak of the very thing you have now spoken about: the generous & moving reception accorded me, both when I entered the hall & when I rose to speak. These things go to a man’s heart & they went to mine. The praises & affection lavished upon me were as fine as anything of the kind I have had the good fortune to listen to, & none of them rang false; they were as manifestly sincere as they were fine. I was very glad to be there, & hear those happy speeches, & see that great body of choice men, & have the pleasure of shaking hands with so many of them [MTP]. Note: Charles Putzel was recently appointed a commissioner of taxation; he was also a trustee for the City College of N.Y. (1901-1910)
Sam also replied to Alex C. Toncray (Tonkray) in Chicago, who wrote on Mar. 6.
Dear M . Toncray: / It is plain to me that you knew the Hannibal of my boyhood, the names you quote prove it. This is an unusual circumstance in my experience. With some frequency letters come from strangers reminding me of old friends & early episodes, but in almost every case these strangers have mixed me up with somebody else, and the names and incidents are foreign to me.
Huckleberry Finn was Tom Blankenship. You may remember that Tom was a good boy, not- withstanding his circumstances. To my mind he was a better boy than Henry Beebe & John Reagan put together, those swells of the ancient days [MTP]. Note: mail from Chicago to NY now took only 2 days.
Isabel Lyon’s journal:
The days are so full of varied joys. I lunched with Mrs. Day & her daughter & Miss Caer was there too, that interesting woman who spent 11 months in the royal palace in China. Her accounts of her life there were delightful. One of the Chinese grandees diplomatically told her that he could send her a wonderful ointment for the hair, one that would darken it for her too. To them a blond must be really a torture for they depict their devils as fair haired.
I came home to find quite a number of things to do, people to see & telephoning, & Mr. Clemens gone to his bed tired. He was resting up too, for he dined with Moncure D. Conway & Andrew D. White (those 2 autobiographists) before going up to the Freundschaft Club at 9:30. But I had a darling chat with him, & he was interested in Mrs. Day & her Christian Science.
Mr. Dearborn came in to see if Mr. Clemens would speak in Carnegie for the Fulton Memorial Association. The idea pleases Mr. Clemens. Mr. Glover, a handsome man, came in to see Mr. Clemens, but had to see me instead [MTP TS 43-44]. Note: Harry Windsor Dearborn.
John Brown, Jr. (“Jock”) wrote to Sam, hoping he remembered him. He’d given letters of his father to his cousin, Dr. J.T. Brown, to write a memoir of his father, which was published in 1901, but little use was made of the letters. “Among the letters I got back in 1902 were some from you and Mrs. Clemens. I have now got a large number of letters written by my father between 1830 and 1882 and intend publishing a selection in order to give the public an idea of the man he was….I now write to ask you if you have letters from him and if you will let me see them and use them” [MTP].
Moncure D. Conway in NYC sent a note by messenger to Sam. “Can you come this evening at seven sharp to the Century Club to dine with Andrew D. White? / The messenger will wait for an answer, if you are in….The short notice is inevitable” [MTP]. Note: Sam went; see IVL entry this day.
Ernest A. Gerrard wrote from 104 E. 20 N.Y.C.to Sam that he was mailing a copy of France and the Maid, a play based on Joan of Arc. “I send it to you because I know you are one of the few Americans sufficiently familiar with the subject matter to appreciate and enjoy the truthful handling of the characters and events” [MTP]. Note: Sam answered ca. Mar. 10.
Lillie T. Noel wrote from Washington Training College, Wash., D.C. to relate an incident and to ask Sam’s opinion of what he might have done in that situation. It seems that during a group pose for a photograph, a lady sneezed who was sitting above a young man. Some item flew down the stairs but the lady was quicker to retrieve it than the young man—it was a set of the lady’s false teeth. What would Sam have done or said in that situation to restore the lady’s dignity? [MTP]. Note: Sam replied Mar. 10.
Philip Sawyer wrote from NYC to Sam, signing “Tom Sawyer.” He was “overjoyed to find” Sam’s “check in my mail this morning—particularly as ‘my pump had begun to suck!’” [MTP].
Virginia Taylor wrote from Barnard College to thank Sam for speaking at the College, and that he was “certainly are an angel.” She apologized for not being able to “deliver you safely home,” and that perhaps “we shouldn’t have let you accept the dinner engagement with Professor Lord” [MTP]. Note: H.G. Lord Philosophy Professor.
Entry Date
Links to Twain's Geography Entries