April 2 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook: “Cody’s Wild West Madison Garden. Begin at 8 / Miss Harrison” [NB 44 TS 8]. Note: see this entry.
At 1410 W. 10th in N.Y.C., Sam replied to J. Henry Harper in N.Y.C. “Good. Then I shall expect you at noon tomorrow. I can’t come to you, for I am laid up with rheumatism” [MTP].
April 3 Wednesday – Sam’s notebook: “The Barber’s Opinion. / Dutchy (Chief) / John Lewis (assistant). / Italian Beppo, (sub.) / Mike (Irish) ” [NB 44 TS 8].
Sam wrote to New York Central Recreation and Information Bureau.
April 4 Thursday – At 1410 W. 10th in N.Y.C., Sam sent a postcard to his attorney Augustus T. Gurlitz.
“Name the day & hour—so that I can be here when you come” [MTP: Sotheby’s, NY, 11 Dec. 1990, Item 382].
April 6 Saturday – Thomas B. Reed wrote to Sam, a typed letter on his law offices letterhead, 10 Wall Street. He included a prospectus. Reed suggests “You and Mr. Rogers and I take this whole thing.” He explained it was a solicitation for stock in a Maine corporation that would offer each poor man twenty acres to farm, give him board and lodging, etc. and make him worth $10,000 in five years [MTP]. Note: On Apr. 11 Sam forwarded the letter and prospectus along with his note, to Emilie R. Rogers
April 7 Sunday – At 1410 W. 10th in N.Y.C., Sam wrote a postcard to his attorney Augustus T. Gurlitz.
“It is not likely that I can leave the house for some days to come. I am still bedridden” [MTP: Sotheby’s, NY, 11 Dec. 1990, Item 382].
April 8 Monday – Sam’s notebook: “Mrs. Day, dinner” [NB 44 TS 8].
April 9 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook: “Alice Day— dinner?” [NB 44 TS 8].
April 10 Wednesday – John Y. MacAlister wrote to Sam, “just beginning to creep about after a wearisome attack of influenza” so he had no details to offer on the Plasmon Syndicate in London, but heard it was growing “by leaps and bounds” [MTP].
April 11 Thursday – At 1410 W. 10th in N.Y.C., Sam wrote a few lines to Laura Fitch McQuiston in Fort Hancock, N.J. “I shall lose no opportunity that offers, to serve you. My expectations are small, because of the experiences behind me; but I shall watch & wait” [MTP]. Note: see earlier letters to McQuiston.
April 12 Friday – Rev. Thomas Chalmers of Manchester, N.H. wrote on Fryeburg-on-the-Saco letterhead to Sam, upset about Sam not issuing a “restatement of the Ament case,” and judging his first article to be “an outrage” based on a “newspaper lie.” “I am sorry you have spoiled my ‘Mark Twain’ Your sayings will not be as funny as they used to be” [MTP].
April 13 Saturday – In N.Y.C., Sam wrote to an unidentified woman [MTP].
Dear Madam:
It is such a disappointment. From the tone, I supposed it was God; when I reached the signature I found it was only you.
Your pulverized & repentant / Mark Twain / Apl. 13 [MTP].
April 14 Sunday – In N.Y.C., Sam wrote to Mary Elizabeth Phillips, observing that “even the kindliest-intended sketches” of himself made him feel ashamed, but the one she’d sent made him “proud. It may not be me, but it’s what I would like to be anyway” [MTP].
April 15 Monday – In N.Y.C., Sam wrote to Laurence Hutton, who had become a professor at Princeton University.
Dear Professor: / I am glad to hail you by that handsome title, and we all congratulate you cordially! Mrs. Clemens puts in her head and interrupts to say, “Give them my love, my best love, and do your dictating a little more quietly and don’t make such a hell of a racket for I am busy in here and have things to attend to myself.” That is like my wife, who is nothing if not unliterary.
April 16 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook: “Mr. Enos—evening Social Club All Clemenses” [NB 44 TS 8].
In N.Y.C., Sam wrote a “NOTICE!” to Frank Bliss, explaining he could allow “copying-privileges” only when Bliss wanted, regardless of what Sam said, since he was obliged to say yes as a rule “as a trade-courtesy” [MTP].
April 17 Wednesday – Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim (1840-1916) inventor born in Maine who lived in London, wrote to Sam about his “Sitting in Darkness” article:
April 18 Thursday – Sam inscribed the first volume of his autographed 24-volume set of Mark Twain’s Works by American Publishing Co. to William S. Hofstra (1861-1932), Dutch immigrant lumber magnate and founder of Hofstra University: “With compliments to / William S. Hofstra / S.L. Clemens / (Mark Twain) / April 18, 1901” [eBay #370393968899, June 10, 2010]. Note: this set was numer 97 of 512 published. He likely signed other sets on this day that have yet to surface.
April 19 Friday – The Clemens family left N.Y.C. and traveled to Saranac Lake, N.Y. [Apr. 21 to Alexander]. Note: Their purpose was to secure a cabin to return for summer for Livy’s health. See Apr. 21 to Alexander.
Sam’s notebook: “Heptagon – see below [for Apr.20] / Mr. Stokes 50 W. 39th / Mrs. Mott 17 East 47th” [NB 44 TS 9]. Note: Mrs. Jordan Lawrence Mott, Jr.
April 20 Saturday – [date in a PDF box]
Sam’s notebook: “Dr. Emmett. No—19th (above) Heptagon Dining Club, 7.30 at Metropolitan Club. Informal— only 20. James W. Alexander 4 E. 64th” [NB 44 TS 9]. Note: see Apr. 21.
April 21 Sunday – At the Riverside Inn, Saranac Lake, N.Y., Sam wrote to John White Alexander, apologizing for a missed dinner date. They had been trying to “hunt up a summer-place on high ground for the ailing member of the family”
“And now, on top of it all, there is a possibility that after this harassed & fatiguing three-days’ railroad-race, our errand to these remote regions has failed & we return home tomorrow defeated. But that is nothing—I am only poignantly sorry about the other failure” [MTP].
April 22 Monday – Sam and Livy left Saranac Lake, N.Y. and returned to N.Y.C. [Apr. 21 to Alexander].
Sam’s notebook: “Mrs. Pike 136 E. 61st Mr. Borden” [NB 44 TS 9]
April 23 Tuesday – In N.Y.C., Sam wrote a short note to George S. Seymour, enclosing a 1899 photo of himself: “Here you have it, & on Shakespeare’s birth-day at that” [MTP]. Note: Seymour is not identified.
Sam received a letter and check from John Y. MacAlister [Apr. 24 to MacAlister]. Note: incoming not extant.
Sam’s notebook: “Read in Princeton Heptagon — 7.30” [NB 44 TS 9].
Check # Payee Amount [Notes]
April 24 Wednesday – At 1410 W. 10th in N.Y.C., Sam replied to Rudolf Lindau, in care of the German Embassy, Constantinople, Turkey. Lindau’s incoming is not extant.
April 25 Thursday – Sam had been asked to preside at the dinner of the Get Together Club in Arlington Hall, but sent a letter pleading poor health. The gathering and the letter was reported by the New York Times, Apr. 25, p.9:
MARK TWAIN TO THE CLUB
———
Why He Did Not Attend the Dinner of the Get Together Organization No. 3.
April 26 Friday – Sam wrote to Hiram Stevens Maxim, the letter not extant but referred to in Maxim’s May 8 reply [MTP].
Sam’s notebook: “Dinner” [NB 44 TS 9].
April 27 Saturday – [date in a PDF box]
Sam’s notebook: “Brooklyn Clerical Union Funk (J.K.) 30 Layfayette Place. / Dinner— 5.30 (& Livy) Montauk Club. / Take Flatbush ave trolley at end of bridge—get out at cor 8the ave & Flatbush— Montauk is only a few doors away” [NB 44 TS 9].
Sam spoke at the Mauntauk Club, Brooklyn, for the Brooklyn Clerical Union. The New York Sun, p.1 covered the event:
TWAIN’S RETORT TO DR. SPAULDING.