October 28 Wednesday – In Redding, Conn. Sam added to his Oct. 24, 26, 27 to Frances Nunnally.
“28th. It was a very very pleasant interruption—It was the mail, & brought the pink ribbons. Thank you, dear, ever so much. They will make a charming decoration for the enlarged picture” [MTP].
Sam also wrote to William Wymark Jacobs. Paine introduces this letter:
Clemens was a great admirer of the sea stories of W.W. Jacobs and generally kept one or more of this author’s volumes in reach of the bed, where most of his reading was done. The acknowledgment which follows was sent when he had finished Salthaven.
Dear Mr. Jacobs—It has a delightful look. I will not venture to say how delightful, because the words would sound extravagant, & would thereby lose some of their strength & to that degree misrepresent me. It is my conviction that Dialstone Lane holds that supremacy over all purely humorous books in our language, but I feel about Salthaven as the Cape Cod poet feels about Simon Hanks:
“The Lord knows all things, great & small,
With doubt he’s not perplexed:
Tis Him alone that knows it all—
But Simon Hanks comes next.”
The poet was moved by envy & malice & jealousy, but I am not: I place Salthaven close up next to Dialstone because I think it has a fair & honest right to that high position. I have kept the other book moving; I shall begin to hand this one around now.
And many thanks to you for remembering me.
This house is out in the solitudes of the woods & the hills, an hour & a half from New York, & I mean to stay in it winter & summer the rest of my days. I beg you to come & help occupy it a few days the next time you visit the U.S. / Sincerely yours, … [MTP: Paine’s 1917 Mark Twain’s Letters p.823]. Note: see also Gribben 348 on Jacobs.
E.C. Bross for the New Amstel Press wrote to advise that he was sending an issue of the New Amstel Magazine which contained special appreciation of Charles Dudley Warner [MTP]. Note: “Oct 29.08” and “Thanks for sending cute mag, which he is glad to see”
Samuel Duncan Patterson for the Westchester Women’s Club, Mt. Vernon, NY wrote to Sam, adding to the previous pestering requests for him to speak there [MTP]. Note: “Ans. Oct 29 MLH; and “Decline form”
Jean Clemens finished a letter from Berlin to Isabel Lyon that she began on Oct. 27. After instructing on her correct address, she wrote:
I called on one of Mrs. Henderson’s sisters a few days ago and was surprised to find that she lived at the same number a former school-mate of mine had lived. I think the house has been decidedly changed because my memory of my friend’s home was that the house was an ordinary one, whereas this one is rather elaborate with a sort of court-garden. Frl. von Bunsen lives in what is called the “Gartenhaus.” I didn’t find her in nor have I heard anything from her yet but I hope I shall.
I haven’t gotten permission to study yet but I am going to ask next Friday. It made me fairly boil to undertake something, when I escorted Bébé to the Berlitz School to get her ticket. I have no desire to go there—except that it always has a sort of fascination for me—but I do most desperately want to begin to study history with a really good teacher. Of course, since I so much want to do it, I fail to grasp why one lesson a week should be undesirable. It may not be considered so. Next Friday my two-week’s probation ends & then I shall ask. I didn’t mention the subject last time but the doctor said not to use the brain by reading or writing too steadily— that such work must be interrupted.
Prof. von R. did one thing last week which I can’t remember Dr. Peterson’s ever having done in exactly the same way. He held a magnifying glass against each one of my eyes in turn, with one hand, while with the other he held a small instrument with some metal on it to his eye, & made the light flash on my eye by means of the metal. When he was through I asked what the deed was done for—what he could tell by it and he told me that he was able to see the blood vessels of the eye & that the eye reflected the condition of the blood vessels on the brain; if they were close together the person was not in a good condition—the brain was excited, etc. He found mine in a normal condition. Dr. P. always (or almost always) pulled the lower lid of one eye down but that merely showed the condition of the blood in general. Once or twice, I believe he held something to his eye & looked at mine but without using any particular light & he never would explain anything that he did. When I inquired of Dr. von R. about bicycle-riding & he said no he explained why & knowing the reason I was perfectly willing to give up all tho’t of it. Dr. P. used to irritate me by invariably stating that such & such a thing was better for me or not feasible but without ever giving a definite explanation. In that respect I like this doctor better. His personality is one of quiet & kindness. When he asked me about my breakfast last Friday & I spoke of coffee he said, “coffee & milk” & I gave him the proportion that I usually take in it, then he said: “Gut. Milch mit Kaffee aber nicht Kaffee mit Milch!”
Give my love to the family & please send me word of poor old Prosper [dog] & the sores he got on the journey. / Ever so much love…[MTP].