July 29 Tuesday – In Kittery Point, Maine, William Dean Howells wrote to Sam, jokingly calling him:
Dear Mr. President: / I am sorry that the poem [Howell’s poem, “The Mother” to be published in Harper’s for Dec. 1902] has gone to Harper’s Magazine. If it comes back, either in proof or MS. it shall be sent to Mrs. Roosevelt [Livy] promptly.
This will be handed to you by my son, who will now be satisfied with the Russian embassy [MTHL 2: 743].
July 29 Wednesday – Samuel M. Bergheim for the Plasmon Syndicate wrote to Sam, having rec’d his letter of July 12 (not extant). He had been laid up or would have answered earlier. “I think you ought to bring the matter you tell me about before the Board of Directors. I think you should write them a strong letter, and put in a claim for the shares which you should have had, and which have evidently been kept back. I should not believe all that Wright says, but still, you might make this statement to the Board as made to you by Mr.
July 3 Thursday – In York Harbor, Maine Sam wrote three notes to Franklin G. Whitmore. The first included a check for taxes, postdated July 14. He sent it early “to have it off my mind.” The second note: “I want no correspondence with those people. But you can say you submitted it to me & it was found to be correct. (Please use just those precisewords.)”. The third replied to a request for a thousand more autographs. “I’ve no cards, & now I’m about out of paper.
July 3 Friday – At Quarry Farm in Elmira, N.Y. Sam typed out a new proposition to Frank Bliss [July 4 to Jacobs].
Sam’s notebook: “Miss Sherry (the trained nurse) wheeled Livy beyond the barn & back. Livy is beginning to get rested from the journey / Finished framing & sent new prop. To Miss Murphy” [NB 46 TS 20]. Note: this last (see July 2 entry) a proposition about Collier selling sets; Miss Murphy was likely a typist. See also July 4 to Jacobs.
July 3 Sunday – The Clemens party was en route in the Prince Oscar from Naples to New York.
Sam’s notebook: “Ship-time 8 a.m. In 13 hours & a quarter it will be 4 weeks since Livy died. / 31 years ago we made our first voyage together—& this is our last one in company. Susy was a year old, then. She died at 24 & has been in her grave 8 years” [MTB 1222; NB 47 TS 15].
July 30 Tuesday – In Saranac Lake, N.Y. Sam wrote to Elizabeth (Ann Chase) Akers Allen (Elizabeth C. Akers) continuing his discussion of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s guilt in marrying Harriet and then mistreating her till she committed suicide.
July 30 Wednesday – In York Harbor, Maine Sam wrote to Franklin G. Whitmore. “The proposition to W. suggested in your letter of July 28 is satisfactory. You can make it whenever you think best. I will approve” [MTP]. Note: likely Sidney A. Witherbee who was negotiating for the purchase of the Hartford house.
July 30 Thursday – At Quarry Farm in Elmira, N.Y. Sam wrote to George W. Reeves, real estate agent for Hoyt & Co., N.Y.
I return the interview. It is the usual thing—made up out of whole cloth by the bastard son of a prostitute who wrote it.
I enclose receipt for $200—Mr. Gardiner’s third rent-payment.
July 31 Wednesday – In Saranac Lake, N.Y. Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers: “Dear Mr. Rogers. I shall be in New York & abed by 11 o’clock tomorrow night. S.L.C.” [MTP:Parke-Bernet Galleries catalogs, Apr. 28, 1959, Item 89].
Note: not in MTHHR.
July 31 Thursday – In York Harbor, Maine Sam replied to L. Fred Silvers’ July 16 of Elizabeth, N.J.
It does indeed interest me—and greatly pleases me, too. Also it squares an old account, heals an old sore, banishes an old grievance: the turning of Huck Finn out of the Concord (Mass) circulating library 17 years ago because he was immoral & said he would stand by Jim & go to hell if he must.
I think your selection of authors is a healthy advance upon the old-time S. S. library menu.
July 4 Thursday – Along with dozens of other luminaries, Sam endorsed a statement from The American Anti-Imperialist League, et al, to the American People with this date from Chicago, Illinois.
July 4 Friday – In York Harbor, Maine Sam inscribed How to Tell a Story and Other Essays to James B. Pond [MTP].
July 4, before – In Riverdale, N.Y. Isabel Lyon wrote for Sam to the Roycrofters, declining their invitation to dine on July 4 [MTP].
July 4 Saturday – At Quarry Farm in Elmira, N.Y. Sam wrote a postcard to Frederick A. Duneka, Harper & Brothers: “I am hatching another proposition for those Blisses people. This time I think it will go through, possibly” [MTP]. Note: see June 27 from Bliss; his initial plan was declined.
July 4 Monday – The Clemens party was en route in the Prince Oscar from Naples to New York.
Sam’s notebook: “We did not come out of our rooms during the day and evening. We were full of memories of other Fourths” [NB 47 TS 15].
July 5 Friday – In Saranac Lake, N.Y. Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers, suggesting guests for a planned cruise on Rogers’ new yacht, Kanawha.
July 5 Saturday – In York Harbor, Maine Sam wrote to James B. Pond. “Your belated pad of paper arrived last night. Why didn’t you send your letter & pad together—like a rational person. Shall I write the 26 again?” [MTP].
Sam also wrote again to Pond. The beginning of the letter is missing.
July 5 Sunday – At Quarry Farm in Elmira, N.Y. Sam wrote to daughter Clara in Riverdale, N.Y., who was again suffering from a carbuncle.
Ah, you poor thing!—I am so sorry for you. And so sorry for your mother, too. It was heedless in me to send your letter to her—but I never once thought.
July 5 Tuesday – The Clemens party was en route in the Prince Oscar from Naples to New York.
Sam’s notebook: “On the second day out, the surgeon was asked for a tonic for Clara. I was sorry, for it is easier to get rid of 7 diseases than of one doctor. This one has called every day since. After York Harbor and Florence I have an aversion for one-horse doctors. (Kirch). / [Horiz. Line separator] / Passed the Azores” [NB 47 TS 15].
July 6 Saturday – In Saranac Lake, N.Y. Sam wrote to Florence Hayward, answering her question about a photograph of him made by H. Walter Barnett , London. “The photograph was made by Barnett, 1 Park Side, Hyde Park Corner. You need to authority from me; he will let you have it without that.
July 6 Monday – Sam’s notebook: “APHORISM / It was a narrow escape. If the sheep had been created first, man would have been a plagiarism. / In the make of his soul & in the movements of his spirit, man is nearer to the sheep than to any other creature” [NB 46 TS 20-21].
July 6 Wednesday – The Clemens party was en route in the Prince Oscar from Naples to New York.
Fanny P. Hapgood, also a passenger on the Prince Oscar, wrote a note of condolence to Sam [MTP].
July 7 Monday – In York Harbor, Maine Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers.
July 7 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook: “No answer from Jacobs. Telegraphed Collier (night dispatch, suggesting that he accept Am. Pub. Co. offer to sell out for $50,000, I taking 2/5 of it—& come up here & talk with me about it” [NB 46 TS 21]. Note: telegram not extant.
July 7 Thursday – The Clemens party was en route in the Prince Oscar from Naples to New York.
July 8 Tuesday – In York Harbor, Maine, Sam’s notebook again contains ideas for the 50 years after story: “Shooting the bird in the tree—no more murders. The boys discuss it. / Partridges in fall on houses / [line separating:] Make this brief: Tom’s selling Huck as a nigger. See the discarded Conspiracy [Line separating:] Reading 3 Spaniards at 2 a.m.—Cat” [NB 45 TS 20-21].