January 30 Tuesday – Sam was in Washington, D.C. until the afternoon, when he returned to NY [IVL TS 13]. By invitation Sam went to “Uncle Joe” Cannon’s office to watch him work as Speaker of the House. NY Times of this date continued from Jan. 28 entry:
So Mr. Twain showed up there this afternoon, but he did not see Mr. Cannon do any work, at least not much. He and Mr. Cannon sat in the Speaker’s room and told stories all the time. Mr. Cannon must have got interested in what Mr. Twain had to say, for after a while he put his feet on the top of his table and crossed his thumbs, and that is always a sign that Mr. Cannon is interested. Mr. Twain sat alongside him and talked in a slow drawl. Mr. Cannon talked fully as much as Mr. Twain, and the philosopher enjoyed hearing what he said. “What did we talk about?” said Mr. Twain afterward. “Well, we just swapped lies.”
The Speaker was not the only man Mr. Twain saw. He met a great many Senators and people like that. “And,” said Mr. Twain, “there were a good many flights of imagination in what those people said. But the Speaker and I stuck pretty close to the truth.”
He reflected on this for a moment, and then seemed to fear that he had been too hasty. “At least,” he amended, “I did. I don’t know whether or not the Speaker stretched a point or two.”
Mr. Twain was asked how he came to go to the Capitol.
“Well,” he said, “I wanted to see my old friend Joe Cannon.”
“Is Mr. Cannon an old friend of yours?” he was asked.
“I call him an old friend,” explained Mr. Twain, “because I met him for the first time on Saturday night, and a man you meet on a Saturday night is always an old friend. I sat beside him at the Gridiron dinner, and I gradually came to have a good opinion of him. If the dinner had lasted half an hour longer I think we would have been calling each other Joe and Sam.
Samuel is Mr. Twain’s family name—the one his family uses.
“But it did not,” added Mr. Twain, “and so I have not called him Joe yet. Perhaps I will the next time I come.”
Mr. Twain and Mr. Cannon took luncheon together, and Mr. Twain looked the Senate over and saw more people whose pictures he had seen. Then he went back to his hotel and gave a dinner to a few friends. He does not know when he will go back.
The Kansas City (Mo.) Star, p. 1 reported more of Twain’s activities:
MARK TWAIN VISITS CONGRESS.
———
The Senators Take Mr. Clemens to Lunch With Them.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 30.—Mark Twain and Congress saw each other to-day. Before they separated each knew the other fairly well. Mr. Clemens did not shy at Congress, but Congress did shy a little at Mark. Mark Twain’s hair was the first thing that attracted the attention of Congress. From the floor and galleries he looked like Chief Justice Fuller. After watching his hair for a time the Senate decided to get better acquainted and Colonel George B. Harvey and Mr. Clemens were invited to come down and see the Vice President. Mr. Fairbanks glanced at Mr. Clemens’s hair and looked as if he would like to know him better so that he might ask what tonics he used. Thinking it over, Mr. Fairbanks carefully brushed four hairs over his bald spot.
The Vice President was about to present his visitors with his autographed photographs when other senators came romping in and insisted that Mr. Clemens and Colonel Harvey take luncheon with them in the Senate restaurant.
“We lunched and lied together,” Mr. Clemens said in describing the luncheon.
[Note: Melville Weston Fuller (1833-1910): Chief Justice from 1888-1910; Charles Warren Fairbanks (1852-1918) served in T. Roosevelt’s second adminstration. Fairbanks, Alaska is named after him.
Isabel Lyon’s journal:
Tonight as Jean and Barry Faulkner and I sat in the drawing-room Mr. Clemens returned from Washington, tired and jaded with a cold brewing. He had had a beautiful time, restful and enjoyable, but the evening before at a banquet he sat with his back toward a draft of some kind —either hot or cold—and though he finally changed places with Major Leigh, the deed had been done. He didn’t want to change places with the Major, for from his seat he could command the great dining room full of pretty women in beautiful garments; and to him the sight was a lovely one.
It is good to have him home again. He sat with us for a few minutes and then with one of his graceful goodnight salutations he went up to bed, and to a hot foot bath and hot whiskey and a steaming of eucalyptus and benzoin administered by that faithful, comforting, competent Katie [MTP TS 20].
William A. Caldwell wrote to Sam on The California News letterhead, Berkeley, Calif. Caldwell told of a letter he’d rec’d from a man in Washington, D.C. about the thought behind a word. The man referred to Sam’s recent talk at Carnegie Hall, that when a woman missed her train and said “Oh!” with the thought behind the word being “damn!” [MTP].
H.A. Lorberg wrote from Portsmouth, Ohio to Sam, asking about a photo he’d sent that he wanted Sam to sign [MTP]. Note: Lyon wrote on the letter: “This man is as bad as Mr. Clemens’s maxim is good about an uneasy conscience & a hair in the mouth—He has been pestering Mr. Clemens for more than 2 ½ years.”
Helen J. Sanborn wrote to Sam. “Dear sir, / Mrs Pearmain of Boston at whose home I had the pleasure of hearing your delightful Andalusian story said that you desire to introduce to your daughter Carolina Marcial the young Spanish girl whom you met at the College Club and at Mrs. Pearmain’s.” Helen was going to bring her to NY in March, as “she speaks with great power and effect” [MTP].
So Mr. Twain showed up there this afternoon, but he did not see Mr. Cannon do any work, at least not much. He and Mr. Cannon sat in the Speaker’s room and told stories all the time. Mr. Cannon must have got interested in what Mr. Twain had to say, for after a while he put his feet on the top of his table and crossed his thumbs, and that is always a sign that Mr. Cannon is interested. Mr. Twain sat alongside him and talked in a slow drawl. Mr. Cannon talked fully as much as Mr. Twain, and the philosopher enjoyed hearing what he said. “What did we talk about?” said Mr. Twain afterward. “Well, we just swapped lies.”
The Speaker was not the only man Mr. Twain saw. He met a great many Senators and people like that. “And,” said Mr. Twain, “there were a good many flights of imagination in what those people said. But the Speaker and I stuck pretty close to the truth.”
He reflected on this for a moment, and then seemed to fear that he had been too hasty. “At least,” he amended, “I did. I don’t know whether or not the Speaker stretched a point or two.”
Mr. Twain was asked how he came to go to the Capitol.
“Well,” he said, “I wanted to see my old friend Joe Cannon.”
“Is Mr. Cannon an old friend of yours?” he was asked.
“I call him an old friend,” explained Mr. Twain, “because I met him for the first time on Saturday night, and a man you meet on a Saturday night is always an old friend. I sat beside him at the Gridiron dinner, and I gradually came to have a good opinion of him. If the dinner had lasted half an hour longer I think we would have been calling each other Joe and Sam.
Samuel is Mr. Twain’s family name—the one his family uses.
“But it did not,” added Mr. Twain, “and so I have not called him Joe yet. Perhaps I will the next time I come.”
Mr. Twain and Mr. Cannon took luncheon together, and Mr. Twain looked the Senate over and saw more people whose pictures he had seen. Then he went back to his hotel and gave a dinner to a few friends. He does not know when he will go back.
The Kansas City (Mo.) Star, p. 1 reported more of Twain’s activities:
MARK TWAIN VISITS CONGRESS.
———
The Senators Take Mr. Clemens to Lunch With Them.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 30.—Mark Twain and Congress saw each other to-day. Before they separated each knew the other fairly well. Mr. Clemens did not shy at Congress, but Congress did shy a little at Mark. Mark Twain’s hair was the first thing that attracted the attention of Congress. From the floor and galleries he looked like Chief Justice Fuller. After watching his hair for a time the Senate decided to get better acquainted and Colonel George B. Harvey and Mr. Clemens were invited to come down and see the Vice President. Mr. Fairbanks glanced at Mr. Clemens’s hair and looked as if he would like to know him better so that he might ask what tonics he used. Thinking it over, Mr. Fairbanks carefully brushed four hairs over his bald spot.
The Vice President was about to present his visitors with his autographed photographs when other senators came romping in and insisted that Mr. Clemens and Colonel Harvey take luncheon with them in the Senate restaurant.
“We lunched and lied together,” Mr. Clemens said in describing the luncheon.
[Note: Melville Weston Fuller (1833-1910): Chief Justice from 1888-1910; Charles Warren Fairbanks (1852-1918) served in T. Roosevelt’s second adminstration. Fairbanks, Alaska is named after him.
Isabel Lyon’s journal:
Tonight as Jean and Barry Faulkner and I sat in the drawing-room Mr. Clemens returned from Washington, tired and jaded with a cold brewing. He had had a beautiful time, restful and enjoyable, but the evening before at a banquet he sat with his back toward a draft of some kind —either hot or cold—and though he finally changed places with Major Leigh, the deed had been done. He didn’t want to change places with the Major, for from his seat he could command the great dining room full of pretty women in beautiful garments; and to him the sight was a lovely one.
It is good to have him home again. He sat with us for a few minutes and then with one of his graceful goodnight salutations he went up to bed, and to a hot foot bath and hot whiskey and a steaming of eucalyptus and benzoin administered by that faithful, comforting, competent Katie [MTP TS 20].
William A. Caldwell wrote to Sam on The California News letterhead, Berkeley, Calif. Caldwell told of a letter he’d rec’d from a man in Washington, D.C. about the thought behind a word. The man referred to Sam’s recent talk at Carnegie Hall, that when a woman missed her train and said “Oh!” with the thought behind the word being “damn!” [MTP].
H.A. Lorberg wrote from Portsmouth, Ohio to Sam, asking about a photo he’d sent that he wanted Sam to sign [MTP]. Note: Lyon wrote on the letter: “This man is as bad as Mr. Clemens’s maxim is good about an uneasy conscience & a hair in the mouth—He has been pestering Mr. Clemens for more than 2 ½ years.”
Helen J. Sanborn wrote to Sam. “Dear sir, / Mrs Pearmain of Boston at whose home I had the pleasure of hearing your delightful Andalusian story said that you desire to introduce to your daughter Carolina Marcial the young Spanish girl whom you met at the College Club and at Mrs. Pearmain’s.” Helen was going to bring her to NY in March, as “she speaks with great power and effect” [MTP].
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