May 8 Saturday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam replied to another (not- extant) invitation to dine from John Y. MacAlister. Yes, he would come “pretty soon” and would also like to “get out the manilas and repeat our smokes,” but Livy was ailing and he needed to spend his evenings with her for now. Also, the addition to the book for S. Africa “comes hard” after he’d thought he was done but expected to finish up in about ten days [MTP].
May 7 Friday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam wrote to Chatto & Windus: “Please send me Garrett’s book, reviewed this morning: ‘Story of an African Crisis’—Constable & Co” [MTP]. Note: Edmund Garrett. Sam annotated the book throughout in both pencil and ink, and mentioned Garrett’s book in ch. 65 of FE, “characterizing Garrett as ‘a brilliant writer partial to [Cecil] Rhodes’.” Sam praised Garrett’s account of the Jameson raid as “the best one I have met with” [Gribben 253]
May 6 Thursday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam wrote to James Ross Clemens, sorry that he was “having this ill turn,” and offering to do anything to help. Livy had offered to help [MTP]. Note. James’ illness was the source of the rumor that Sam was desperately ill, or dying, or even dead. Paine writes:
May 4 Tuesday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam wrote to
Richard Edgcumbe : “I shall be very glad indeed to come. With many thanks I am / Sincerely Yours / SL Clemens” [Sotheby’s June 19, 2003 catalog, p.72 Lot 85].
May 3 Monday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam replied to Frank Bliss’s long-awaited letter, not-extant
Now you’re speaking up! Your letter had a virile ring to it. I had concluded weeks ago that your interest in the book was a little pale.
Yes, come over here. I have thought of it fifty times.
May 1 Saturday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam wrote to Frank Fuller (likely still in N.Y.C.):
I was very glad to get your letter [not extant], & hear your cheery voice again; but I’m going to wait a while before I wrote you, because there’s fully 2 weeks’ writing to do on this book yet, possibly 3—& I am rushing.
But when I get the decks cleared, then I’ll write you a letter which I’ve had in my mind a year & more.
May – Harper’s Monthly May issue included a review of TSA and TS,D and Other Stories in the Uniform Edition of Mark Twain’s works by Laurence Hutton.
April 28 Wednesday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam finished his Apr. 26 to H.H. Rogers.
The issue of including South Africa in FE had been settled in the affirmative—by Livy:
“Mrs. Clemens urged that you & Bliss were right. She said—but that ain’t any matter. The only thing is, that I have started in on South Africa, & have done two chapters on it & am moving along” [MTHHR 275-6]. Note: See May 3 to Frank Bliss.
April 27 Tuesday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam wrote to “Friar” Arthur Spurgeon (1861-1938), declining an invitation to the Whitefriars Club, after changing his mind to make only “several engagements.” He would keep only those and not add any.
I am to dine with Mr. Moberly Bell May 4th, but even if I were free I should avoid adding a public engagement.
You will have a good time. Max O’Rell made a delightful speech that other time, & he will do it again [MTP].
April 26 Monday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam began a long letter to H.H. Rogers that he finished on Apr. 28. In his May 3 to Frank Bliss, Sam disclosed he’d received “Mr. Rogers’s letter a week ago,” which would have been this day, so it’s likely this long missive to Rogers is a same-day reply.