January 24 Wednesday – Sam and Livy dined with Sir William Wilson Hunter (1840-1900), Francis Henry Skrine, Frank Frankfort Moore (1855-1931), British dramatist, novelist, poet; and others [Life of Sir William Wilson Hunter, etc. by Francis Henry Skrine (1901) p. 477]. Hunter would die on Feb. 6. See also Feb. 8 and 26 entries.

January 25 Thursday – At 30 Wellington Court in London, England Sam began a reply to William Dean Howells’ Jan. 14 that Sam finished on Jan. 26.

Yes, the short things will be added to Bliss’s Uniform Edition. Harper will issue two volumes of them in the spring. I consented a couple of weeks before their smash. They decline to give them up, now.

January 26 Friday – At 30 Wellington Court in London, England Sam finished his Jan. 25 to William Dean Howells.

January 27 Saturday – At 30 Wellington Court in London, England Sam wrote to Joe Twichell [MTP:

Paine’s 1917 Mark Twain’s Letters, p.694].

DEAR JOE,—Apparently we are not proposing to set the Filipinos free and give their islands to them; and apparently we are not proposing to hang the priests and confiscate their property. If these things are so, the war out there has no interest for me.

January 29 Monday – At 30 Wellington Court in London, England Sam wrote to Felix Volkhovsky (1846 -1914). Many opponents of the Russian Czar fled Russia for the refuge of Britain. Volkhovsky fled from Siberia and settled in west London, where his home became a meeting place for a community of Russian émigrés.

January 30 Tuesday – Sam tried to visit T. Douglas Murray, but the family was not at home [Jan. 31 to Murray].

January 31 Wednesday – At 30 Wellington Court in London, England Sam wrote to T. Douglas Murray, enclosing the introduction he wrote for the Official Trial Record of Joan of Arc.

I enclose the Introduction, corrected & reduced. I have retained several of the emendations made, & have added some others.

February – Sam also wrote an aphorism to Alfred E. Mann. “Never do wrong when people are looking” [MTP].

February 1 Thursday – Jonas Henrick Kellgren Osteopath, billed £10.10.0 for the last half of January, Feb. 1, 1900 included, for Jean’s treatments [1900 Financial file MTP].

February 3 Saturday – At 30 Wellington Court in London, England Sam wrote to Poultney Bigelow, that they would be glad to come. “Mrs. Clemens says she has sent an invitation to you two for the same evening; but she will name another day” [MTP]. Note: date of the gathering not specified.

February 5 Monday – At 30 Wellington Court in London, England Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers, marking the letter “Private”.

February 6 Tuesday – In London, Sam wrote to Funk & Wagnalls Co.: “In my experience I have found that one can do without principles” [MTP]. Note: letter UCCL 13072 is currently unavailable at MTP.

Samuel S. McClure wrote from N.Y.C. to Sam.

February 7 Wednesday – Frank Bliss replied to Sam’s of Jan. 16, and enclosed statements of books sold from July 1, 1899 to Jan 1, 1900, totaling $5,644.36 in royalties.

Yours of the 16th ult., [Jan.] came duly to hand a few days since, and we are glad to hear from you, and thank you very much for your kindly desire to help us over the rough places. … We had already paid Mr. Whitmore $1200.00 in cash, and in addition, with the one or two small payments made in the fall, making $1500.00 in cash that we have given to him.

February 8 Thursday – At 30 Wellington Court in London, England Sam wrote to Susan L. Crane.

February 10 Saturday – The New York Times, p. BR1, an anonymous squib: “Topics of the Week.”

February 12 Monday – At 30 Wellington Court in London, England Sam replied to Samuel G. Blythe (incoming letter not extant).

Objections? Indeed no. On the contrary I shall be glad.

February 13 Tuesday – Sir Gilbert Parker (1862 -1932) wrote from London to Sam. “We have been so sorry to miss you this afternoon, a regret that owing to our electric bells having gone wrong your ring was evidently not heard.” Parker found Sam’s card after he’d left [MTP].

February 14 Wednesday – Henry C. Robinson, longtime friend of the Clemenses, and ex-mayor of Hartford, died at his home at 6 a.m. [Hartford Courant “Death of Mr. Robinson” Feb. 15, 1900 p.9]. Note: See Feb. 16 to Lucius Robinson; Mar. 30 to Whitmore.

Lucius Robinson cabled news of his father’s death. Cable not extant; referred to in Sam’s Feb. 16 reply.

John M. Hay wrote on State Department note paper to Sam.

February 15 Thursday – Sam’s notebook: “In my father’s house are many flats” [NB 43 TS 5].

Jonas Henrick Kellgren Osteopath, billed £21.0.0 for the last half of February, Feb. 15, 1900 included, for Jean’s treatments [1900 Financial file MTP].

Patrascan wrote a long fan letter (in French) from Bacau, Romania to Sam [MTP].

February 16 Friday – At 30 Wellington Court in London, England Sam wrote to Lucius Robinson.

Your cablegram gave me another stab in the heart—& there have been so many in these four disastrous years! Susy Clemens, Ned Bunce, Libby Hammersley, the Cheney children, others and still others—& now Henry Robinson, friend, wise adviser & beloved comrade from the day we first met till now.

February 17 Saturday – Sam looked in on Henry M. Stanley, who had been treated by Dr. Henrick Kellgren from Sam’s recommendation. Stanley had improved greatly since his first treatment on Feb. 15; he had bacon and eggs and spoke with Sam for an hour and a half [Feb. 27 to Rogers]. See also Feb. 15 letter from Mrs. Stanley.

February 18 Sunday – Sam’s notebook: “There are no wild animals until man makes them wild” [NB 43 TS 6].

February 20 Tuesday – At 30 Wellington Court in London, England Sam sent an aphorism to Alfred E. Ann (b.1851) in Finsbury, a borough of London. “We ought never to do wrong when people are looking” [MTP]. Note: Ann is listed as a mine owner and owner of Mining and Scientific Press, a journal of mining, popular science and General news. See Feb. 23 to and from Ann.

February 22 Thursday – At 30 Wellington Court in London, England Sam wrote to Frank Bliss.

I suppose that when Whitmore called on you for asphalt money he did as before—brought you a written order from me. In that case it is all right & regular, but I have no recollection of sending him any such order. Did he bring you such an order? Please tell me; my memory may be at fault….

February 23 Friday – Sam’s notebook: “To the pure all things are impure” [NB 43 TS 6].

At 30 Wellington Court in London, England Sam wrote to Alfred E. Ann, having second thoughts about another letter [not extant] he had sent.