March 9 Saturday – Sam’s notebook: “Grand Opera House—8.15. 23d St & 8th Ave” [NB 44 TS 7]. Note: The Metropolitan Opera House advertised the Grand Opera Season 1900-1901. “TO-NIGHT, at 8, at Popular Prices. Double Bill.—I PAGLIACCI (in Italian.). Miss Fritzi Scheff; MM. Salignac, Pini-Corsi, and Scotti. To be followed by CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA (in Italian.) Mmes. Gadski and Louise Homer; MM. Campanari and Cremonini. Conductor, Flon” [New York Times, 9 Mar. 1901, p. 16].
To The Person Sitting in Darkness: Day By Day
March 10 Sunday – Sam’s notebook: “Dora Wh[eeler] Keith ? | Mrs. Boyle here 7.30” [NB 44 TS 7].
At 1410 W. 10th in N.Y.C., Sam wrote to Moncure D. Conway, now in the City. Sam wrote in care of Harper’s.
March 11 Monday – Sam’s notebook: “Mr. Mitchell, 7.30 24 W.10th” [NB 44 TS 7].
At 1410 W. 10th, Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers, enclosing Whitmore’s Mar. 9.
March 12 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook: “Dora Wh[eeler] Keith ? Aldine dinner—see 19th Feb.” [NB 44 TS 7]. Note: on Feb. 19 Sam entered and then lined through: “Aldine dinner in honor of Howells, new Pres. Of Natl Institute Arts Letters,” reflecting perhaps a postponement or an error.
Fatout lists a speech by Mark Twain at a dinner honoring William Dean Howells. No particulars are given but the above NB entry confirms [MT Speaking 668].
March 13 Wednesday – Sam’s notebook: “2 p.m., U.S. Court Rooms, Jno. Shields, examiner, Post office” [NB 44 TS 7].
Sam Clemens testified before US Commissioner John Shields on a lawsuit brought by Rudyard Kipling against R.F. Fenno, publishers. The New York Times, Mar. 14, p.3, headlined that Mark Twain was a witness and smoked and testified.
MARK TWAIN A WITNESS
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Summoned in Rudyard Kipling’s Suit Against Publishers.
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March 14 Thursday – At 1410 W. 10th in N.Y.C., Sam wrote a postcard to Frances A. Ramsay, stenographer, hoping she could come the next day at 2 or 2:30 p.m., as he had an “accumulation of letters” [MTP].
March 15 Friday – Sam’s notebook: “Stenographer, 2 or 2.30. 7.30-engaged” [NB 44 TS 7].
March 16 Saturday – Sam’s notebook: “Male teachers of N.Y.? 6.30. I better go at 8.15. / Irving Bacheller there. Hotel Albert. Van E. Kilpatrick. Carriage will call for me at 8.15. General topic, Training of a citizen” [NB 44 TS 7].
The whirl of speaking engagements continued with Mark Twain talking at the Hotel Albert for the monthly supper of the Male Teachers’ Association of N.Y.C. The New York Times, Mar. 17, p.2, reported:
MARK TWAIN ON TRAINING THAT PAYS
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March 17 Sunday – Sam’s notebook: “Possibly Mr. Bartholomew” [NB 44 TS 7].
March 18 Monday – Sam’s notebook: “11, Stenographer. Conway & Harrison, 6.30. Century Club 7 W. 43d” [NB 44 TS 7].
At 1410 W. 10th in N.Y.C., Sam wrote a short paragraph to Frank Bliss that he expected the American Publishing Co. to continue to add works to his 22 volumes in the Uniform Edition as they were written and published elsewhere [MTP].
March 19 Tuesday – Henry C. Klinke of Cleveland, Ohio wrote to Sam (only the env.survives) [MTP].
March 20 Wednesday – Sam’s notebook: “Opera Harvey” [NB 44 TS 7].
The Minneapolis Tribune, p.1 ran the political cartoon (insert); top caption: “The Best Joke Yet”; bottom caption: “The G.O.P. ‘Wow! Yah! Yah! Ho! Ho! Oh, wow! M-M-Mark you—Oh, Lordy! You always was a funny fellow.’”
March 21 Thursday – Sam’s notebook: “Henry Holt 7.30 711 Madison Ave” [NB 44 TS 7].
At 1410 W. 10th in N.Y.C., Sam wrote to John White Alexander:
“Is it strictly private, & no reporters? If so, that’s in my line. Am I too impudent?” [MTP]. See Aug. 10, 1888.
James L. Hickok of Binghamton, N.Y. wrote to Sam requesting a lecture to help raise funds for a public library [MTP].
March 22 Friday – Sam’s notebook: “Have asked Mr. Dodge to dinner. | Dickson et al 10.30 Benj. Curtis at 10.45” [NB 44 TS 7].
The New York Times ran claims of libel against Mark Twain, p.16:
DEMAND THAT TWAIN RETRACT.
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Missionaries Say Statement by Him in The North American Review Is Libelous.
March 23 Saturday – Sam’s notebook: “Odell dinner, Lotos Club? 9.45 do? I’ve an engagement” [NB 44 TS 7].
Once again, Sam gave a dinner speech, arriving too late to dine, which allowed him to avoid a lot of rich food and a lot of clatter and noise. The New York Times, Mar. 24, p.2, ran a full article on the event at the Lotos Club in honor of Governor Benjamin Barker Odell, Jr. (1854-1926) (Article below edited to include only the introductory paragraphs and Mark Twain’s speech):
March 24 Sunday – Sam’s notebook:
“Get a box—$6. 3 p.m. Carnegie Concert” [NB 44 TS 7]. See ad insert.
At 1410 W. 10th in N.Y.C., Sam wrote to John Y. MacAlister in London. George Harvey was sailing for London and had invited Sam to cross with him. Sam’s letter introduced Harvey to MacAlister. “Tell him how the Plasmon business is going, won’t you?” he wrote. Sam noted that H.H.
March 25 Monday – Sam’s notebook: “Stenographer 2.30. Dinner to Harvey 7.30 University Club” [NB 44 TS 7].
The Clemenses heard that Frederic William Henry Myers died in Rome. He was the founder and president of the Society for Psychical Research in Cambridge, England
Unidentified (“Many Students”) wrote from N.Y.C.:
March 26 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook: “10.30, Joan of Arc (Jules E[ckert] Goodman)” [NB 44 TS 7].
At 1410 W. 10th in N.Y.C., Sam wrote to Laura Fitch McQuiston (1863- 1935) in Fort Hancock, N.J. Sam extended his “deepest sympathy,” but he had “never had an experience which moved me to believe the living can communicate with the dead,” though he and Livy had and would continue to “experiment in the matter when the opportunity offered.”
March 27 Wednesday – At 1410 W. 10th in N.Y.C., Sam wrote to Frank Bliss.
March 28 Thursday – Sam’s notebook: “Have asked Bigelow to dinner. Mrs. Koller (see 27th ) Empire Theatre 2.15 p.m. Miss Gibley, 6.50 / Duneka said, ‘Go on just as if the clause was abrogated. I cannot say it will be abrogated, but there will be no bother resulting[’] ” [NB 44 TS 7-8].
March 29 Friday – Sam’s notebook: “Boys’ Debate 576 Lexington Av. Cor 51st. Ask Poultney. 1 Lex; (Park Av. Hot.) Gilder; Exercises begin 8.15 ‘English as She is Wrote.’ In my lower drawer. Miss Margt P. Pascal, Prest. I am to say few words after the Boys’ debate” [NB 44 TS 8]. Note: Margaret Pascal taught primarily immigrant children, and worked with George T.
March 30 Saturday – Sam’s notebook: “Y.M.C.A. 52 E 23d Carriage at 9.45” [NB 44 TS 8]. Sam gave a talk in the evening for the Poughkeepsie Eastman Club at the YMCA. The New York Times, Mar. 31, p.2, reported the talk:
MARK TWAIN TELLS OF HIS BUSINESS VENTURES
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”To Succeed, Avoid My Example,” Is His Axiom, He Says.
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Confides to the Poughkeepsie Eastman
March 31 Sunday – Sam’s notebook: “(To-day, was it?) Turned over to Harry Harper, for the firm, the dramatic business of Joan of Arc, they to attend to every detail including collections, & reserve 15 per cent of the results as commission” [NB 44 TS 8].
April – Arthur Newall wrote from England asking where he might obtain a copy of Sam’s obscure 1601 tale of Elizabethan England. Newall’s letter and Sam’s reply are not extant but referred to in Newall’s Jan. 24, 1905 letter. In the 1905 letter Newall wrote that Sam had mentioned that Lords Wolseley and Houghton might have a copy. See the 1905 entry [MTP].
April 1 Monday – Sam’s notebook: “11 p.m. Bliss and Gibman. Dinner–Poultney” [NB 44 TS 8].
At 1410 W. 10th in N.Y.C., Sam wrote again to Laura F. McQuiston in Fort Hancock, N.J.