November 10 Friday – In New York Sam wrote on Players Club letterhead to Livy. Even with all the interruptions he was “making good progress” on Tom Sawyer, Detective having written 10,000 words.

The last two days I have written very slowly & cautiously, & made my steps sure. It is a delightful work & a delightful subject. The story tells itself.

Sam also related election results from Tuesday, Nov. 7:

The Democratic party had everything their own way & could have remained steadily in power, but they had no sense & haven’t had any for forty years. They had not a single leader in Congress with any ability; their majority in the Senate was made up of cowards, & their President of the Senate was a wax figure. By consequence the country was left in a state of intolerable commercial congestion 3 months while those idiots sat pottering in the Senate. Evidently the whole country has taken the alarm, & is aghast at the idea of leaving itself longer at the mercy of these blockheads & poltroons.

In this state Dave Hill put up a convicted thief for one of the loftiest places in the Judiciary. The people rose with lightnings and thunder & tempest and snowed him under — buried him past resurrection under whole mountain-ranges of ballots. Now you understand why our system of government is the only rational one that was ever invented. When we are not satisfied we can change things

You are most precious to me [LLMT 277-8]. Note: Sam’s abrupt ending suggests an interruption or a lost end to the letter.

Note: The Panic of 1893 caused voters to turn away from the party of Grover Cleveland, the Republicans winning eight out of eleven state elections. The President of the Senate Sam referred to was Adlai E. Stevenson of Chicago, whose grandson didn’t like Ike in 1952 and 1956. David Bennett Hill) (1843-1910) was the Senator from N.Y., who in 1893 nominated Isaac Horton Maynard (1838-1896) for Judge of the Court of Appeals. Maynard had been arraigned for election fraud in Dutchess County; he lost by more than 100,000 votes, and his nomination was reported as “swamping” the Democrats. See NY Times, June 13, 1896 p.1 for details and Maynard’s obituary.

Sam also wrote to Mary Mason Fairbanks, who evidently had written from Hartford.

Dear Mother Fairbanks:

Oh, dear no! None of us is in Hartford. Clara & I were there four days visiting, but she has gone back to the rest of the family in Europe…I am remaining here a few days longer amusing myself with writing a book while I wait for a business matter to complete itself.

Livy’s health is improving, & the doctors think they can cure her in another year over there. The children are hard at work on music & the languages, & they are making perfectly satisfactory progress. …

…I expect to make other flying trips hither during the next twelvemonth, & so I shall hope to catch sight of you on one of them.

With the same old affection I am / Sincerely Yours / S L Clemens [MTMF 272-3].

The New York Times, p.8 announced:

Lotos Dinner to Mark Twain

The Lotos Club will give the first dinner in its new house, 558 Fifth Avenue, to Mr. Samuel L. Clemens, (Mark Twain,) on Saturday evening [Nov.11]. Two hundred members and guests will participate in this tribute to the humorist. The capacities of the new clubhouse will be well tested. Mark Twain is one of the oldest members of the Lotos, but, owing to his residence abroad, his fellow-members have seen very little of him for a number of years. The demand for seats at the dinner in his honor is something unprecedented, and it promises to be a notable one in the history of the club. Among those who have accepted invitations and who are expected to be present and participate in the after-dinner speaking are Seth Low [1830-1916], Richard Watson Gilder, Charles Dudley Warner, Edmund Clarence Stedman, Charles A. Dana, William D. Howells, Gen. Horace Porter [1837-1921], James Brisbin [sic] Walker, and Edward Eggleston. President Frank R. Lawrence will preside. Mr. Clemens expected to return to Europe at an early day, but he postponed his departure in order to accept this compliment from the Lotos Club.