May 25 Monday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote to Margaret Blackmer at Miss Tewksbury’s School in Irvington, N.Y.
Dear Margaret—
Did I tell you, when you visited me, that I had lost my half of the enameled shell in Bermuda? I’ve got it back again! Of course the real shell, the original shell, the frail jetsam of the waves of Sandy Point, was the valuable shell, because of its odd & pretty associations, (& I still possessed that), but I held the enameled one in very high regard because it was that original’s official deputy & representative. I lost it off my watch chain at a dinner at the officers’ mess at Prospect a day or two before we sailed, & now it has been found & handed to Major Graham by one of the servants. I shan’t lose it again, dear.
One of my angel-fishes stayed over last Sunday with us, & another one stayed over yesterday with us. I wish you would do us that honor. / With love … [MTP].
Sam also wrote to Major Malcolm D. Graham at Prospect Army Garrison in Hamilton, Bermuda.
Dear Major Graham:
Yes, it is my shell, & I am very glad it is found, for two large reasons: 1, it purges of suspicion a colored maid of some particular friends of mine—a suspicion which I kept to myself of course, in the absence of positive proof; 2—a minor reason—it has very pretty associations with an American child of twelve, whose acquaintance I made at the “Princess,”—one of ten little girls, scattered about England, France, Canada & the U.S., with whom I am in continuous correspondence. One day at Spanish Point I found a delicate little bivalve, & severed its dried hinge, & said, “You are to keep one of these halves always, & I the other—for identification purposes. Some day I may meet some child I may think is you, but not be certain; then I will expose my half-shell & say ‘If you are my Margaret & not another, produce the duplicate of this, & prove your my-Margaretship!’ ”
Afterward, for many days, I used to strike a dramatic attitude of glad surprise when I met her, then turn heart-brokenly away, murmuring, “Alas, no, it is not my Margaret!”—whereupon with innocent exultation she would fetch her shell out of her bosom & hold it up to the light of day.
She was here with an aunt a week ago, & would give no name to the servant, but sent up her eloquent dumb shell to me, with the enameled iridescences glinting from its hollowed surface. I carried down my original, & didn’t tell her I had lost its representative.
I shall be very glad if you will give the enclosed trifle to that mess-room waiter, with my thanks. It has of course been a pleasure to autograph the cards: they will be posted to-day. (If they—or one or two of them—should fail to reach their destinations, you will remember that sometimes postmen are collectors of picture-cards & autographs.)
The new house in the country will not be completely finished & furnished before the middle of June, & so we are tied to the hot town until then, instead of being set free of it the first of May, as heretofore. But no matter, I am enjoying life.
There’s an agonized call on the telephone!—& not from a stranger; so I will run & pacify it. Aufwiedersehen in Bermuda next winter! / Very sincerely yours … [MTP]. Note: Sam evidently lost his half of the shell at one of the band concerts he attended at the Prospect Army Garrison, and a waiter at the mess there found it. The good major returned it.
Isabel Lyon replied for Sam to Rossiter Johnson’s May 2, enclosing Harper & Brothers’ May 23 advice not to give consent for Johnson to quote from two or three of Sam’s books [MTP].
Lyon also wrote for Sam to an unidentified man to decline an invitation, and explaining Sam no longer took “any railway journeys that are not compulsory” [MTP].
In the evening Sam spoke at Delmonico’s to celebrate Victoria Day (Empire Day). The New York Times, May 26, p. 5, covered the event and Sam’s speech:
TWAIN EULOGIZES QUEEN VICTORIA
Humorist Speaks at Victoria Day Dinner of British Schools and Universities Club.
——— ———
”HAD NO PEER IN HER TIME” Mentioning War Only to Scoff at Idea,
He Tells of Affection Between Countries.
Old “boys” from many famous English universities and schools, including Oxford and Cambridge and Eton and Harrow, met at Delmonico’s last night to celebrate Victoria Day, under the auspices of the British Schools and Universities Club. Victoria, or Empire Day, as it is more generally known throughout the British colonies, was founded on the late Queen’s birthday, the 24th of May. Falling this year on a Sunday, the annual dinner of the club had perforce to be held one date late.
The chief guest of honor last night was Samuel L. Clemens, who as Mark Twain is loved throughout the British Empire as much as he is in his native land. Mark Twain is an Oxford Doctor of Literature, this degree having been conferred on him by the university during his visit last year.
Dr. W. E. Lambert, President of the Club, was toastmaster and read a cable from King Edward sent through Lord Knollys, conveying a message of good will to the club. Seated at the guest table with him were Mr. Clemens, W. Courteney Bennet, C. I. E., British Consul General at New York; J. E. Grote Higgins, the Rev. A. H. Judge, past President of the club; the Rev. D. Parker Morgan, D. D.; Dr. John MacPhee, President of the Canadian Society; Robert P. Porter, Reginald Walsh, and J. D. Petersen, Secretary.
Mr. Clemens responded to the toast, “Queen Victoria—An American Tribute.” He prefaced his remarks by reciting one or two of his humorous experiences, including an imaginary interview which he thought he overhead between Livingstone and Stanley, when the latter found Livingston in Central South Africa. Livingstone wanted to know the news of the world for the five years he had been in Africa, and Mark Twain overhead Stanley tell how the rulers of most of the countries had been changed, finally concluding, “and Horace Greeley has changed his political faith.”
“As a woman the Queen was all that the most exacting standards could require. As a far- reaching and effective and beneficent moral force she had no peer in her time among either monarchs or commoners. As a monarch she was without reproach in her great office. One may not venture, perhaps, to say so sweeping a thing as this in cold blood about any monarch that preceded her, either upon her own throne or upon any other. It is a colossal eulogy, but it is justified.
“What she did for us in America in our time of storm and stress we shall not forget, and whenever we call it to mind we shall always remember the wise and righteous mind that guided her in it and sustained and supported her—Prince Albert’s. We need not talk any idle talk here tonight about either possible or impossible war between the two countries; there will be no war while we remain sane and the son of Victoria sits upon the throne.”
Consul General Bennett, alluding to the feeling between England and America, said:
“I will stake my reputation that there never can be serious trouble between the two countries. They are marching along the same line, and the same object in view, and they are marching now as they will in the future, as one great nation.”
Mrs. George S. Brock wrote from Washington, D.C. to ask Sam where she might get a copy of a toast he made called “Friends” or “To a Friend”. “An actor impersonating Mark Twain at Chase’s this winter gave this toast at a dinner but I can’t remember it and I am very anxious to get it to send to a friend…” [MTP]. Note: IVL: “not a toast of mine, but an ancient one & a very good one.”
AS you ascend the hill of prosperity may you not meet a friend.
May the best of your past
Be the worst of your future.
Here’s to you as good as you are
Here’s to me as bad as I am
But as bad as I am &
As good as you are
I’m as good as you are
As bad as I am.
Billie Burke wrote from Oakland, Calif. to Sam. “My dearest friend / I can’t tell you what happiness your darling note gave me. Just to know that I had not been forgotten was in itself a joy…” [MTP]. Note: IVL wrote a list of girls and ladies on the envelope, members of MT’s Aquarium.
Edward M. Colie wrote from East Orange, NJ to thank Sam for his “presence and talk at the [Empire Day] Dinner.” She also thanked him for inscribing her copy of HF [MTP].
Irene Gerken wrote from Deal Beach, NJ: “My dear Mr. Cleamens, / I received your letter and was very glad to hear from you. I am very glad you are coming down Monday Wednesday. It is lovely weather down here now and we are all having a grand time. I am sure that the air down here will do you good. Soon the bathing pool will open and then we can have fun going swimming every day” [MTP; not in MTAq].
J.A. Lloyd wrote from Dixon, Ill., a long rambling letter amounting to a request for Sam’s autograph and the enclosing of his book [MTP]. Note: not in Gribben. IVL wrote on the letter: “Thanks for letter / Would so like to be able to say that he will find time to read the book”
Dorothy Quick wrote to Sam.
My dear Mr Clemens
I have intended writing every day since I left you to thank you for the lovely time I had with you I haven’t got my pony yet but we are looking all the time & may get one any day, it is very warm here today & if the weather keeps warm I suppose you’ll be glad to get into the country yourself. My drawing class on pleasant days goes out to sketch from nature it is very nice but I don’t like it very much. With lots of love hugs & kisses I am your loving / Dorothy [MTAq 161-2]. Note: Dorothy seemed to be growing more familiar with punctuation.