The Man in the White Suit: Day By Day

April 17 Friday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote to Richard C. Carr in Bogotville, Chicoutine County, P.Q., Canada.

April 17 Saturday - At 3 a.m. in Redding, Conn., Sam began a letter to William Dean Howells, that he added to at 10 a.m.

My pen has gone dry, & the ink is out of reach. Howells, Did you write me day-before-day-before yesterday, or did I dream it? In my mind’s eye I most vividly see your handwrite on a square blue envelop in the mail-pile. I have hunted the house over but there is no such letter. Was it an illusion?

April 17 Sunday - Clara Clemens Gabrilowitsch and her husband arrived at Stormfield. This was reported by the New York Times, p. 6, Apr. 18:

MARK TWAIN SEEMS BETTER.

Arrival of Daughter from Abroad Brightens Sick Man Considerably.

April 18 Tuesday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: “Santissima [Clara] is allowed to see her letters— I’ve sent them up to her” [MTP: TS 51]. Isabel Lyon’s journal # 2: “Mr. Clemens lunched with Col. Harvey, and Mr. Howells, and others too. (4 ladies) / Miss Pears came up from Washington to dine with Mr. Clemens” [MTP TS 14].

April 18 Wednesday – The New York Times, Apr. 19, p. 14, “Sutton Beats Slosson by Superior Billiards,” again mentioned Mark Twain’s evening at the international billiards tourney at Madison Square Garden:

April 18 Thursday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam replied on Frank T. Searight’s Apr. 12 letter: “never make another land voyage that can be avoided either honorably or otherwise” [MTP].

At 8:15 p.m. Clara Clemens gave a performance in Fredonia, N.Y. The Fredonia Censor advertised her upcoming concert and on Apr. 24 reviewed it:

April 18 Saturday – Mark Twain, H.H. Rogers and State Senator Patrick H. McCarren were guests of honor at the Humorists and Cartoonists Beefsteak Dinner at Reisenwebers in NYC. His speech and the event was covered by the NY Times, Apr. 19, p.16.

Photo insert: Twain and Rogers are standing in the middle next to the windows.

April 18 Sunday - Sam’s original guestbook, since replaced by the newer, more elegant gift from Mary B. Rogers, for some reason lists this date for Frederick E. Robson, Toronto, Canada. Under Robson’s name: James Parks, Bank House, Birkdale, Lancashire 0.8 V. 09 [Mac Donnell TS 7].

April 18 Monday — The New York Times, Apr. 19, p. 9 datelined Apr. 18 Redding, announced improvement:

Mark Twain Improving.

REDDING, Conn., April 18.—Samuel L, Clemens, (Mark ‘Twain,) who is seriously ill with heart disease at his home near here had a restful night and was brighter and to all appearances better today. Dr. Robert H, Halsey who has been with Mr. Clemens since Saturday, went to New York this morning, seemingly satisfied with the progress Mr. Clemens was making.

April 19 Wednesday – Isabel Lyon’s journal # 2: “Dinner with Mr. & Mrs. Loomis / Col Harvey took the Palmistry Article—[MTP TS 14]. Note: see Twain’s “Palm Readings” (1905) and the A.D. of Jan. 29, 1907. Playboy Magazine, Dec. 2010 issue gives a peek at Vol. 2 of Autobiography of Mark Twain, to be released in 2012 by the MTP. In this excerpt Twain responds to fortune tellers who were asked to read his handprints without knowing his identity.

William Dean Howells in NYC wrote a sentence to Sam: “At least 3 of us will come to dinner Sunday at 7. (or 7.30?)” [MTHL 2: 798].

April 19 Friday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: We’re just starting for Hartford. It is snowing and the King who is lathering his face for a shave suggests that I get Mrs. Whitmore on the telephone and tell her that he “may be a little late in arriving for he has mislaid one of his snowshoes.” And then such a chuckle of delight he gives as he swabs his face and I go spinning up to the telephone. I wouldn’t dampen one joke of the King’s for worlds, except where Mrs. Rogers is concerned, for she can’t be joked with over a telephone. Dinner tonight at Mrs.

April 19 Sunday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote to Dorothy Sturgis.

Easter Morning

Yes indeed, dear Miss Dorothy, I want the pictures you took; & I am hoping that Mr. Russell will not forget to send copies of those which he took of you & me, for I want good ones to frame & hand in the billiard room of the house I am building in the country—the said room’s name being “The Aquarium,” because it is to be the Aquarium’s official headquarters.

April 19 Monday - In Redding, Conn. Sam wrote to daughter Jean in Montclair, N.J.

Dear child you will be as welcome as if it were your mother herself calling you home from exile!

April 19 Tuesday - The New York Times, p. 18, Apr. 20, datelined Apr. 19 Redding, announced:

Mark Twain a Little Weaker.

REDDING, Conn,, April 19.—Samuel L. Clemens, (Mark Twain,) who is here trying to regain his health after the severe attack of heart trouble that prostrated him on the voyage from Bermuda to New York last week, is a little weaker. Dr. Robert Halsey of New York issued a statement tonight as follows:

April – Review of Reviews (London) published an anonymous article, “If Emperors Were All Stripped Naked” p. 375. Tenney: “Summary of ‘The Czar’s Soliloquy,’ which appeared in North American Review in March [40]. Connecticut Magazine published “Mark Twain’s Autobiography, 1872” [Tenney 40]. Note: The actual title was “Mark Twain—His Autobiography” which ran in the magazine for April-May-June, 1905. It is a reprinting of “Mark Twain’s (Burlesque) Autobiography” (1871), later in The $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories (1906).

April – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam inscribed a copy of TS to Norman D. Bassett with an aphorism: “Few things are harder to bear than the annoyance of a good example. / Truly Yours / Mark Twain / Apl./06 / Norman D. Bassett” [MTP].  

Ellis Parker Butler (1869-1937) inscribed his book Pigs Is Pigs (1906) to Sam dated April 1906 in Flushing New York [Gribben 119].

April – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam inscribed an aphorism in Vol. 1 of the Hillcrest Edition of his works to Julia Langdon Barber: “To be good is noble; but to show others how to be good is nobler—and less trouble. / Mark Twain / Mrs. A.L. Barber, May, 1907” [MTP].  

Sam also inscribed in a copy of CS to Dorothy Butes: “For Dorothy, / with the affectionate regards of / The Author. / April/07” [MTP]. Note: See Apr. 22 for inscription of CS also to Butes, which suggests this also done that day.  

April – Gessford’s photograph of Mark Twain ran in Forum,  facing p. 441. “No significant commentary” [Tenney, ALR Third Annual Supplement to the Reference Guide (Autumn, 1979) 192].

April — Sam inscribed a photograph of himself seated for Elizabeth, not further identified [Ebay, Bestdarnautographs, 2010].

Sam also inscribe a photograph of himself (in a two-piece white suit smoking a cigar) to Sir Gilbert Parker: “To / Sir Gilbert Parker / with the love of / Mark Twain / April/09.” [Sotheby’s, June 19, 2003, Lot 133]. Note this photo was used for the cover of Sotheby’s catalog for the Mark Twain Collection of Nick Karanovich.

April 2 Sunday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: This morning when I was searching through the multitudious letters in the study, for the one that gives me the true history of “The Postman Who Stole from the Mails”, and so furnish the material for the chapter in the Admiral’s Story, the gong gonged and I went out in the hall to find Mr. Poultney Bigelow saying “Mr. Clemens is clamoring for Miss Lyon.” I went in to answer the simple question “Had Count Lewenhaupt [the osteopath] a settled telephone address? Mr.

April 2 Monday – The New York Times, Apr. 3, p. 9, “Three New Plays at Vassar Benefit,” reported that “Mark Twain was the centre Times of one admiring group in a lower stage box…” at the Hudson Theatre, N.Y.C. The plays: The Mallet’s Masterpiece; The Land of the Free; The Watteau Shepherdess. Fatout offers more detail and some speculation about this event:   That he made a speech is not on record, but he probably said something.

April 2 Tuesday – Sam took what would be his last trip to Elmira, N.Y. to visit friends and family. He would attend an organ recital at the request of Jervis Langdon II, and speak at Park Church, the following day [Jerome & Wisbey 79-80].

Clara Clemens returned to N.Y.C. from Atlantic City and “stopped briefly” on the way to Katonah, N.Y. to see Jean. She would return on Apr. 6 and leave again on Apr. 8 [Hill 170].

April 2 Thursday – Clemens was in Bermuda.

April 2 Friday — Clemens recorded this day’s events and of Ashcroft carrying Horace Hazen’s forced letter of “discharge” on the trip to Norfolk: