November 30 Thursday – Sam’s 58th Birthday. In New York he wrote to William Dean Howells, apologetic about a mix-up having accepted Howells’ and Judge Charles H. Truax’s invitations for the same day.

I am to go to a breakfast at noon next Sunday [Dec. 3], & am disgusted with myself for being so thoughtless as to consent. I am not capable of two appetites in one day.

Sam felt “pretty shabby” about the matter and wrote that he would “run out tomorrow afternoon & have a conference” with Howells about it. This source notes that “The meal was actually not served until three, and Mark Twain had to leave at five, before it was over, in order to get to the Howells apartment on 59th St. in time for dinner” [MTHL 2: 655 & n1 (citing Dec. 4 to Livy)].