Christian Science Published, Flying Trips to Bermuda – Katonah Visits – Clara Tours
Damned Human Race Club – Suppression of Noises – Lease Tuxedo Park House
Aldrich Dies – Redding Plans – Last Trip to Elmira – 1 Angelfish – Jamestown
Saturday A.M. Club Reunion – Lost at Sea! – “Oxford Would Confer…”– Annapolis
Actors Fund Fair – Meets “Charlie”– Stevedores Shout – G.B. Shaw
Hectic Schedules – Postpones Funeral – Ascot Cup Stolen! – Windsor Bash
Amuses King & Queen – Punch Honors – Doctor Clemens – Oxford Pageant
Luncheons, Teas, Dinners – Corelli, Offensive Sham – Liverpool – Homeward Bound
Dorothy Quick, MT Mgr. – Bronchitis – Dorothy letters & visits – HHR Stroke
Fulton Day, Jamestown – “Goddam Govment” – Knickerbocker Bank Run
Children’s Educational Theatre– American Plasmon Bankrupt – Howells Send Off
1907 – Sam wrote a sketch unpublished until 2009: “Telegraph Dog” [Who Is Mark Twain? xxvi, 183-98].
Sam also wrote “Little Nellie Tells a Story Out of Her Own Head” sometime during 1907. It was published in Fables of Man, Tuckey, ed. (1972). Tuckey offers that this piece is Twain’s recollection of a performance of P&P by children in Hartford, though Sam mistakenly recalled it as in Cleveland in Dec. 1884. Tuckey further fingers Nellie as possibly Helen Morton Cox, the young daughter of George Washington Cable’s sister [Fables of Man 45-9].
In N.Y.C. Sam inscribed a copy of Charles A. Young’s A Text-book of General Astronomy to Mr. Cole.
Friend Cole: I feel sure that if you will carefully peruse this “work” you will admit “most cheerfully etc.,” that I am correct in my statement regarding the subject of Geometry as a whole [MTP]. Note: Sam added a PS that if Cole was still in doubt he should read HF again and then call upon him if “still in the dark.” Written on the 30 day of some month in 1907.
Probably during 1907 Sam wrote daughter Jean :
Jean dear, do you remember this picture with the accidental child in it? This is made in Germany, and is good work. I am so glad, so very glad, to hear that you are cheerful and happy, and are going to fight it out on Dr. [Frederick] Peterson’s lines and help him in every way you can to push your improvement along to a cure. Lovingly / Father [Heritage Auction Lot 35131 ended Oct. 15, 2009]. Note: the “accidental girl in the pillow” ran in the Dec. 8, 1906 Harper’s Weekly. See entry for the picture.
In Tuxedo Park, N.Y. Sam inscribed a portrait lithograph of an unidentified man to Charles Dana Gibson, the illustrator, after a weekend visit to his home: “To Mr. Gibson / Truly Yours / Mark Twain” Also inscribed by Horace Porter, diplomat, one time chief of staff for General Grant: “In memory of a pleasant visit to Tuxedo Park…” [MTP].
Sam also wrote to Harper & Brothers requesting his Christian Science book be sent to the following:
Dr. Quintard, 145 W. 58
H.H. Rogers, 3 E. 78 st.
H.H. Rogers, jr., 26 E. 57
Miss Jean Clemens, Katonah, N.Y.
10 or 12 to S.L. Clemens, 21-5 ave.
Wm. R. Coe, 6 East 78 st.
Mrs. Benjamin,
Miss K.I. Harrison, 26 Broadway
R.W. Ashcroft, 11 Broadway
Mrs. Robert Collier, 20 Grammercy [sic Gramercy] Park
Miss Paddy Madden, 3 W 104 st [MTP].
Sam also wrote his aphorism about saving tomorrows for work to William E. Schultz [MTP: Missouri Historical Review Apr. 1933: 279]. note: William Eben Schultz (b. 1887), Canton, MO, native, English teacher and musical composer, who taught for a time at Yale University, and wrote several books in the 1920s and 30s, including Cantonia: A Historical Pageant in Commemoration of the One- Hundredth Anniversary of the founding of the Town of Canton, Missouri (1930). See also Missouri Historical Teview (Apr. 1933): 278-279 for Shultz’s article, “How I Got Mark Twain’s Autograph.”
Sam also inscribed a copy of CS to Augusta Emma Stetson (1842-1928): “This book is dedicated to a noble human success & proved she is another General for God—Augusta E. Stetson. Sincerely Yours. Mark Twain. 1907” [MTP]. Note: Stetson (nee Simmons) rec’d the degree of Doctor of Christian Science (C.S.D.) in 1884 from the Mass. Metaphysical College. In the early 1900s she raised over one million dollars to build a structure for the First Church on W. 96 Street. It was dedicated free from any debt, a feat Twain would likely have admired. In 1909 she was excommunicated by the Boston church.
Sam also wrote to Vitagraph Co. of America. “Gentlemen: I authorize the Vitagraph Company of America to make a moving picture from my ‘Curious Dream.’ I have their picture of John Barter, examining his gravestone, and find it frightfully and deliciously humorous” [MTP: Lewis Jacobs, The Rise of the American Film, etc. 1968, p.76]. Note: Vitagraph made one reel silent films at this time, and increasingly needed to borrow and adapt stories from literature.
Sam also wrote his aphorism about saving tomorrows for work in The $30,000 Bequest to Katy Leary [MTP].
Sam also wrote his aphorism about taking the pledge improving liquor in HF to Ashton Stevens (1872-1951) American drama critic, whose column ran in the S.F. Examiner and later in the Chicago Herald-American [MTP].
Paine writes of a letter (not extant) from Steve Gillis sometime during this winter:
Once that winter, when a letter came from Steve Gillis saying that he was an invalid now, and would have plenty of time to read Sam’s books if he owned them, Clemens ordered an expensive set from his publishers, and did what meant to him even more than the cost in money —he autographed each of those twenty-five volumes. Then he sent them, charges paid, to that far Californian retreat [MTB 1373]. Note: see also the June 7 inscription to Gillis on an unspecified book.
Letters of Dr. John Brown, With Letters from Ruskin, Thackeray, and Others (1907). Tenney: “On pp. 351, 353-354, 357-358, and 360-361 are letters to the Browns from MT and Olivia Clemens, mostly on predictable topics as they express the wish that the Browns could visit them in America and MT expresses sorrow on Brown’s death (1 Jun 1882), and praises his book RAB AND HIS FRIENDS (11 Feb 1890),” etc. [Tenney: “A Reference Guide First Annual Supplement,” American Literary Realism, Autumn 1977 p. 334].
Underhill & Underhill published a little book entitled How to Tell a Story, a republishing of Sam’s 1895 story [eBay 4000797684 Oct. 24, 2009].
Stephen M. Griswold’s Sixty Years with Plymouth Church (1907) included a chapter, “Quaker City Excursion,” p. 153-66. Tenney: “Describes the tour on which IA was based; briefly mentions MT. Quotes at length the account of the visit to the Czar at Yalta in Mrs. Griswold’s A Woman’s Pilgrimmage to the Holy Land (1871)” [44].
Brander Matthews’ Inquiries and Opinions (1907) included a section, “Mark Twain,” p.137- 66. Tenney: “A biographical and critical account by one of MT’s early advocates in the academic world. This was written as the introduction to a complete edition of MT’s works, and appears in Innocents Abroad in the Author’s National Edition [44].
Aaron Watson’s The Savage Club (London 1907) included “Artemus Ward and Mark Twain,” and “Mark Twain’s Own Account,” p. 119-35 [Tenney 45].
Capital Stories about Famous Americans: A Budget of Tales of Love, Heroism and Adventure, Rev. Louis Albert Banks, ed., contained “How Mark Twain Plagiarized Holmes,” p. 207. Tenney: “…from a birthday-dinner speech quotes MT’s account of accidentally borrowing the dedication for IA. ‘Mark Twain: His Good Deed to General Grant’ (486-91) retells ‘Hamilton’ (sic) Garland’s account ‘in the Success magazine some years ago’ of MT’s becoming publisher of Grant’s Memoirs and paying royalties that assured the financial security of Grant’s family. Picture of MT, 478” [MTJ Bibliographic Issue Number Four 42:1 (Spring 2004), p.9].
Mrs. C.E. Aaron sent Sam a British picture postcard of the Cunard Line’s S.S. Mauretainia.
“Dear Mr. Clemens/ this is to let you know that Mr. Aaron & myself have crossed again this year unexpectedly. Ship is beautiful … [the last sentence has flaked off, but up the left side: “Dorothy, Grandma”] [MTP]. The year and day (“5”) are clearly visible on the postmark, but the month is not.
Gilbert Holland Montague sent Sam a 3”x5” Union League Club note card announcing his engagement to Amy Angell Collier of New York. “She is a niece of President Angell of University of Michigan & an old friend of Mr. A.B. Paine. She is a cousin of Chester Aldrich, whom I believe your daughters know. I beg to be remembered to all your family & household” [MTP].
Gladys B. Kyd wrote from Edinburgh, New Brunswick to ask for Twain’s autograph. She also sent her book for him to sign, plus a money order to cover return shipment [MTP].
Written on Isabel Lyon’s journal title page for 1907 (which is called a “Date Book”): “The King says of billiards that ‘It exercises all your body & half of your soul’” [MTP].