November 29 Sunday – Elizabeth Wallace ended her visit and left Stormfield on an early train.
Isabel Lyon’s journal: Today Mr. Watson and John [sic William] Ireland Starr motored up from Bridgeport. We had a gay time photoing, and just before they came I made photos of Benar and Betsy down in the pergola, that are going to be beautiful, I know. Betsy, Benar and I got into fantastic head gear and motored down to mother, for Betsy to say goodbye [MTP: IVL TS 81]. Note: William Ireland Starr b.1877, son of Major William Wright Starr (1848- 1909), of Bridgeport, Conn. Watson is identified as Arthur K.L. Watson and the car a White steamer. Below is an account by Starr:
My Three Meetings with Mark Twain at Stormfield by William Ireland Starr:
During his Redding years, Stormfield was inaccessible enough to limit Mark Twain’s callers to a small number, these he welcomed without benefit of introduction or advance appointment. During the warm part of the year 1908, exact date not remembered I was cruising around Redding with my good friend Arthur K. L. Watson in his White Steamer, and we decided to pay a visit to the local celebrity. At that time the approach to the Clemens’ home was via Diamond Hill Road and what we now call Mark Twain Lane.
On such an excursion I was never without my cameras, and at this time I had just begun to experiment with the new Lumiere three-color photographic process, although my stand-by was my stereoscopic camera with which I took twin exposures giving the effect of a third dimension. Why I took no color shots on my first call I do not remember, but I did photograph the old gentleman in several poses, sitting in his front window, with his pipe in his hand, looking out at the Connecticut landscape.
I was assisted in this by Twain’s two secretaries, Miss Isabel Lyon, his social secretary, and Ralph Ashcroft. English literary secretary, who, incidentally had accompanied Mark Twain to Oxford for the presentation of the doctorate not long before.
Twain was very proud of the cap and gown he had worn on this occasion and sometimes strutted around in them like a small boy dressed up. It was a sumptuous garment of bright red with gray half-sleeves and wide lapels. This colorful costume was largely responsible for my second visit, the following December 14th, at which time I brought along some autocrome plates for a few color shots of Doctor Clemens.
Our host received us graciously on both of these calls, and on the second visit I was invited to stay for lunch. He was at the time, however, greatly intrigued over the founding of the Mark Twain Library, and he “put the bee” on all his visitors for a contribution, however small, to the building fund. You will find my name among the founders, next to that of Mr. Watson, on the list we still have at the Library.
Twain was in good form that December day and greeted us warmly with one of his funny stories, as we were about to sit down at the table. He was very amusing and showed that he liked an audience, even a small one consisting chiefly of his henchmen and Watson and myself. In 1908 color photography was quite new in America and I seem to have been among the first to use the Lumiere process, which employed glass plates on which sensitized tiny grains of starch were used to photograph the scene as a transparency.
My host kept kidding me about what he called my “color machinery” but I could see that he was interested in having another portrait in color, following a “sitting” of only fifteen to twenty seconds. One thing I noticed was that he was the autocrat at the luncheon table; Miss Lyon had whispered that he did not like to be interrupted, much less contradicted.
Rare Color Shots Disappear
The color shots turned out beautifully and I mailed all of them to “Dr. Samuel Clemens, Redding, Connecticut” That was the last I ever saw or heard of my prized transparencies.
When, after the elapse of some weeks, I had had no acknowledgement, I wrote to inquire if they had been received and what Mark Twain thought of them. Still no answer.
Finally, in the spring, I journeyed a third time to Stormfield to see if I could not rescue the missing plates in person. By this time the old gentleman was suffering from what turned out to be his last illness and was confined to his bedroom on the second floor. He did stick his head out the window and shout down to me a greeting and an apology for not inviting me up. “Doctor’s orders” He was gone before I could ask any questions about my color photographs. Judging by some subsequent happenings, I would not be surprised if Ralph Ashcroft could have explained the mystery, had he been so minded.
My brief acquaintanceship with Isabel Lyon grew into a lifelong friendship between her and my family. She and Ashcroft were married, but their union broke up with great unhappiness to Isabel, and she came and lived with my mother for quite a time while she was trying to recover from the shock [Redding Times, June 2, 1960, Vol. 5 p.1]
Dora Duty Jones wrote from Berlin, Germany to send homage to Clemens for his various works [MTP].
Alfred W. Lubin for Kora Co., NYC wrote to ask Sam for his autograph for his Vol. I of his Riverdale Edition of books [MTP]. Note: “Autogr. Sent Dec 7. MLH”
O. Roeber wrote from Germany to ask for an autograph [MTP]. Note: “Autogr sent. Dec 14 MLH”
Henry Williams wrote from the Conn. State Prison in Wethersfield to ask Sam for his forgiveness for burglarizing his home [MTP]. Note: Sam never answered; after Clemens’ death Williams wrote to Joseph Twichell (22 May 1910) anguished over Clemens’ not forgiving him, and begging Twichell to visit him in prison. He’d carved a Mississippi steamboat in wood and sent it to Clemens but didn’t know if Sam ever received it.
November 29? Sunday – In Redding, Conn. Sam sent another receipt on his library notice to William Ireland Starr [MTP].