June 3 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook: “Guest of E.W. Stephens. / Publish ‘Herald’ / Walter Williams, Editor ./
Columbia, Mo. / James Thayer Girauld, Secy P.B.K. will elect me honorary member” [NB 45 TS 16]. Note: P.B.K. =
Phi Beta Kappa. Paine gives E.W. Stevens [MTB 1172]..
Livy’s diary: “The Misses Dodge here for tea” [MTP: DV161].
Sam wrote sympathies to his old childhood friend John L. RoBards. “My dear old playmate & friend, the tidings you send me are inexpressibly distressing, & my heart goes out to you in your sorrow. Good-bye—I grieve with you” [MTP].
Fatout lists a talk by Sam at St. Joseph’s Academy, Hannibal morning talk to children [21].
The Hannibal Courier-Post ran a front page “Good-Bye to Mark Twain” in this departure date:
“This visit of mine back to the scene of my boyhood has been one of the happy events of my life,” said Mark Twain to a reporter of the Courier-Post this morning, as he sat in his room at the Windsor Hotel, after having made all arrangement to take his departure.
“My visit has been a most enjoyable one, and I do not recall a single instance when I ever had a better time. The time was all well spent. I have met many of my boyhood friends and enjoyed pleasant chats with them. My ride with John Briggs Sunday was especially pleasing to me.
“I am glad to know that the people of Hannibal think so much of me. It is not always that a fellow can stay away from his old home as long as I have done, and then return and be received so cordially. …
“Thank the people of Hannibal for the kind treatment they have accorded me. I can assure you that it could not have been more cordial.”
The Hannibal Morning Journal, p. 1? Ran “Mark Twain Going Home.” Budd: “Reporter summarizes a conversation with SLC in bed; SLC regrets that his wife did not come along to help him keep his appointments straight” [Budd, “Supplement” ALR 16.1 (Spring 1983) 70-71]. Budd’s no. 180a. Also in MTCI 451-2.
The Hannibal Courier-Post, p. 1, ran “Good-Bye to Mark Twain: The Last Interview” [MTCI 452].
Sam left for Columbia, Missouri at 11 a.m. [Sorrentino 21].
Paine writes of the trip from Hannibal to Columbia:
Clemens left next day [June 3] for Columbia. Committees met him at Rensselaer, Monroe City, Clapper, Stoutsville, Paris, Madison, Moberly—at every station along the line of his travel. At each place crowds were gathered when the train pulled in, to cheer and wave and to present him with flowers. Sometimes he spoke a few words; but oftener his eyes were full of tears—his voice would not come [MTB 1172].
In the evening Sam attended a banquet hosted by Dr. Richard H. Jesse, president of the University of Missouri [Sorrentino 21].
At 10:30 p.m. Sam attended a banquet hosted by Phi Beta Kappa held for the candidates for honorary degrees [ibid]. Sam’s NB lists James Thayer Girauld, as the Secretary of the fraternity, which was giving him honorary membership. The Columbia Herald of June 6 reported that Twain entertained the audience by making jokes about the previous speeches of James Wilson (1835-1920), Secretary of Agriculture (1897-1913); Ethan Allen Hitchcock (1835-1909), Secretary of the Interior (1899-1907); and Beverly T. Galloway (1863-1938), Chief of the Bureau of Plant Industry—the last had mentioned a goat. Fatout quotes the Herald:
Mr. Clemens said that he greatly honored the goat, and thought goats ought to be editing half the magazines of the country. When he was young he wrote a very fine article which he carried to every magazine and principal newspaper he could find, carried it twice, and they all refused it. A goat took it at once, and showed himself much wiser than any of the editors. He did not know exactly what a curator was, what he cured, but he was satisfied that the University was being properly managed, and, as an old Missourian, he was proud of it. He said that language could not express his appreciation of the honors the University had conferred upon him. He did not know what he could do, but that as one way of expressing his gratitude he would give the library a set of his books, which he was certain contained everything that was not in any other books. Phi Beta Kappa made him an honorary member [MT Speaking 670-1].