May 9 Wednesday – Sam sailed again for Southampton, England in the S.S. New York [Brooklyn Eagle, p.4 “Personal Mention”; MTHHR 24]. Sometime during the voyage, which ended on May 16, Sam wrote a thank you note to an unidentified person:
Thank you cordially for your superb performance. / Sincerely Yours / Mark Twain / At Sea, May/94 [MTP].
May 8 Tuesday – In New York at noon Sam wrote to Henry H. Rogers, who was on a trip to W. Virginia. Sam headed the letter with Rogers’ office address:
Enjoy your trip; be perfectly tranquil concerning this office. Miss Harrison & I are running its affairs in the most admirable way. I am going up, presently, to eat your luncheon for you, for you need to keep well nourished when on a long trip, & I don’t think much of the West Virginian cuisine.
May 7 Monday – In his May 8 to Rogers, Sam wrote of this evening:
I invited myself out to dinner last night [May 7], & I’ve got the brooch & a letter for Mrs. Duff. I invited Rice to come out & play billiards, & no doubt he would have come if he hasn’t said he would. However, I took it out of Harry [Rogers’ son] & we didn’t need the doctor [MTP].
May 4 Friday – In New York Sam wrote to Livy about his quick trip to Elmira (May 1-2), and the conference with Mt. Morris Bank’s Payne and attorney, Daniel Whitford (May 3). Sam said they owed the bank $29,500 but felt “a good half of it is bogus paper.”
May 3 Thursday – In the afternoon in New York, Sam and his attorneys met with President William H. Payne of the Mt. Morris Bank and his attorney, Daniel Whitford, who had also been attorney for Webster & Co.
May 2 Wednesday – Sam was in Elmira at least part of the day and returned to New York in time for a business meeting the following day. He had,
…a glimpse of the folks, including the Stanchfields. Sue [Crane] reminded me of the lace & I sent it to her as soon as I got back. I had a sort of notion to run up to Hartford for an hour, but I don’t get the chance. [May 4 to Livy]. Note: Clara Spaulding married John Stanchfield.
May 1 Tuesday – In New York at the Players Club, Sam wrote to Frank E. Bliss in Hartford, asking him to come down “next Monday” (May 7) to possibly enter into an agreement for publishing PW “by subscription & do some planning & talking about the Uniform Edition” [MTP]. Note: William Evarts Benjamin was involved in a proposed Uniform Edition.
May – The sixth of seven parts from PW ran in the January issue of Century Magazine.
April 30 Monday – In New York on Players Club stationery, Sam wrote to Grace King about Madame Blanc taking offense at his article, “Private History of the ‘Jumping Frog’ Story” in April’s North American Review. See April entry.
Oh, it isn’t a bit of use. I have not offended; it is Mme B.’s French obtuseness which is to blame. She owes herself an apology. …
April 27 Friday – In Paris, Livy finished her Apr. 26 letter to Sam. She mentioned Parisian Points of View by Ludovic Halévy, translated by Edith Virginia Brander Matthews: