August 30 Thursday – Sam wrote “My Literary Shipyard.” It was published posthumously in Harper’s Monthly Aug. 1922 [Camfield’s bibliog.]. Note: Sam added to the piece and titled it “When a Book Gets Tired.”
Clemens’ A.D. this day included: Clemens’ method of writing stories—Tells how some of his stories were commenced, how they were sometimes left for several years unfinished—some of them have never been finished—Trouble with telephones—Miss Lyon’s long-distance message to Clara Clemens—Mr. Scovil gives a clause of telephone law [MTP: Autodict2].
Isabel Lyon’s journal: “Sack Cloth” & “Ashes”—the King has named the 3 cats, & “Bettina”.
The King does wish C.C. would take up Crystal Science. “By God, if she’d be a Crystal Science, I’d learn it myself.” It came up because I told him how I’ve conquered a headache by mental effort & the King has conquered a pain, a continued pain in his right arm by the same kind of an effort. He sat on the edge of the bed swinging his dear bare feet and saying that he “would like to hear a drunken man discourse on Crystal Science”. Then Anna came in to get some clean underdrawers for him & he talked about the virtues of those underdrawers handling them gently, & saying, “Yes, they’re new—they can’t be more than nine years old.” Oh, he is so sweet & so beautiful to look at & so gentle.
Mr. & Mrs. Pumpelly and Mrs. Learned and Mrs. MacVeagh lunched here and we enjoyed them ever so much [MTP TS 115]. Note: all strike outs included.
Charles J. Langdon wrote to Sam. “I have a bill for $4.60 for putting the name of Robert Richardson, as you desired to have done, on the headstone at Susie’s grave. If you will kindly send me your check of $4.60 I will pay the bill and send it to you receipted. / Julie and her little Olivia are with us for a few days so that now all the family are together, except Edward [Loomis], and we expect him here over Sunday. / Best wishes…” [MTP]. Note: At the time of Susie’s death, Sam could not recall the author of the verses taken from the poem (Annette) placed on her headstone, often said to be an Australian. In his A.D. for Jan. 22, 1907 Sam wrote: “We had found them in a book in India, but had lost the book and with it the author’s name. But in time an application to the editor of ‘Notes and Queries’ furnished me the author’s name….it has been added to the verse upon the gravestone.” “Western wind” was changed on the headstone to “Southern wind.”