August 30 Friday – H.H. Rogers wrote from Fairhaven, Mass. to Sam.

My Dear Clemens: — / Mrs. Rogers received your letter of the 28th inst. and has handed same to me. I note that you are getting into trouble in that Jamestown matter. I think you make a mistake in trying to advertise a man like [Dr. Nicholas Murray] Butler. People of Virginia don’t want to see him. They want Mark Twain. If you cannot see that, I can. Why not make short work of the whole matter by saying that Mr. Rogers writes you that he would be vry glad to send you and your friends down to Virginia, and now since Mr. Cleveland is unable to attend, why not make it a “Clemens” Day? If you do not want to speak, just get into the background, and take along with you such good fellows as W.J. Howells [sic], Peter Dunne and Geo. Harvey.  

Rogers told Sam to consider himself “under orders at once,” and harangued him a bit more. Then he invited him to the house on Sunday when the new Coe baby would be there (Henry Huttleston Rogers Coe, b. June 30) [MTHHR 636-7].

Isabel Lyon’s journal: Savagely ill all day. Crashing, crackling pains in the back of my head.

I’m paid up for the scurrying day in town. Little Katie has been a motherly angel to me and tried to rub the pain away. About half past eight the King came up to my door to ask how my pains were and to express his entire dissatisfaction in my condition. Richard Mansfield died early this morning of a cancerous malady. A great artist has gone out of this life [MTP TS 96]. Note: Richard Mansfield (1857-1907), English actor best known for his Shakespearean play performances, Gilbert and Sullivan operas, and for his portrayal of both roles in the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which was so good that Mansfield was suspected of being Jack the Ripper.

H.E. Cole wrote a short note of thanks from New Haven: “Allow me to acknowledge receipt of your kind letter of the 21st inst., and, thanking you for your courtesy to a stranger, accept your invitation with avidity” [MTP].

John Larkin wrote to Sam, enclosing his check for $182.82 collected by Power Banking Co. of Texas from Samuel Wilson for his note of $100 due June 10 (payment for Archer Co. Tex. Property) [MTP].

In his A.D. Sam recalled having luncheon with Sir Norman Lockyer, astronomer, on July 7 [Gribben 415].