April 9 Monday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers.
When you come by for me at 5 this afternoon won’t you please bring me
1—$500-bank note;
4—100-
10—10-
& please ask Miss Harrison to draw this $1000 from my balance at the Guaranty Trust. / Yours ever
Miss Lyon doesn’t know about this. SL. Clemens [MTHHR 604-5].
In the evening Sam and H.H. Rogers attended a billiard tournament for the “18-2 World’s Championship” at Madison Square Garden [ca. Apr. 4 to Brunswick-Balke-Collender Co.]. Note: this was not the first billiards match the pair had taken in. Isabel Lyon’s Journal for Apr. [Sam and Rogers were conspicuous:] were about the only men in evening clothes, and because of our old white heads….there was a great wave of applause [as they were about to leave], and Mr. Clemens turned instinctively to see the shot that had been made, only to find the billiardists surprised at applause for what wasn’t anything to applaud, and then Mr. Clemens knew that “he was the shot” they were celebrating [MTHHR 605n1]. Note: The NY Times sub-headlined “Mark Twain Cheered” on Apr. 9. The eventual winner on Apr. 21 was George F. Slosson, who defeated Jacob Schaefer, 500 to 396 [NY Times, Apr. 22, p15].
Sam also writes an aphorism to an unidentified person: “We ought never to do wrong when any one is looking / Mark Twain” [MTP].
Isabel Lyon replied for Sam to Hélène Elisabeth Picard’s Mar. 28. “M . Clemens keeps utterly away from anything that wrings his heart. He has too many speeches to make, too many people to see in these days & he must remain cheerful—In these rushing days must deny himself the pleasure of writing letters. He dictates several thousand words a day etc” [MTP].
Clemens’ A.D. for the day: Letter from French girl enclosing cable about “Huck Finn”—The Juggernaut Club – Letter from Librarian of Brooklyn Public Library in regard to “Huckleberry Finn” and “Tom Sawyer.” Clemens’ reply — The deluge of reporters trying to discover the contents of that letter [MTP Autodict2].
Isabel Lyon’s journal:
“Today came a note from Mr. Howells who returned with it a batch of auto-ms. which Mr. Clemens took up there yesterday. He wants to read all the 578 pages that went before the batch he had—and he thinks it is wonderful. Says that Mr. Clemens is ‘nakeder than Adam & Eve put together’ in his absolutely sincerity” [MTP TS 63].
B.M. Byrne wrote on Jackson City Bank, Jackson Mich. letterhead to Sam. “I am addressing you for the Outlook Circle of The Kings Daughters, to learn if if would be possible for them to secure you for a lecture here this Spring” [MTP].
Fred E. Farnsworth for the Bankers’ Club of Detroit wrote to Sam asking if he could deliver an address sometime in the last week of April or the second week in May [MTP].
Benjamin W. Gilchrist for Geo. A. Hasley Council, Newark, NJ wrote to Sam asking for a lecture during May [MTP].
When you come by for me at 5 this afternoon won’t you please bring me
1—$500-bank note;
4—100-
10—10-
& please ask Miss Harrison to draw this $1000 from my balance at the Guaranty Trust. / Yours ever
Miss Lyon doesn’t know about this. SL. Clemens [MTHHR 604-5].
In the evening Sam and H.H. Rogers attended a billiard tournament for the “18-2 World’s Championship” at Madison Square Garden [ca. Apr. 4 to Brunswick-Balke-Collender Co.]. Note: this was not the first billiards match the pair had taken in. Isabel Lyon’s Journal for Apr. [Sam and Rogers were conspicuous:] were about the only men in evening clothes, and because of our old white heads….there was a great wave of applause [as they were about to leave], and Mr. Clemens turned instinctively to see the shot that had been made, only to find the billiardists surprised at applause for what wasn’t anything to applaud, and then Mr. Clemens knew that “he was the shot” they were celebrating [MTHHR 605n1]. Note: The NY Times sub-headlined “Mark Twain Cheered” on Apr. 9. The eventual winner on Apr. 21 was George F. Slosson, who defeated Jacob Schaefer, 500 to 396 [NY Times, Apr. 22, p15].
Sam also writes an aphorism to an unidentified person: “We ought never to do wrong when any one is looking / Mark Twain” [MTP].
Isabel Lyon replied for Sam to Hélène Elisabeth Picard’s Mar. 28. “M . Clemens keeps utterly away from anything that wrings his heart. He has too many speeches to make, too many people to see in these days & he must remain cheerful—In these rushing days must deny himself the pleasure of writing letters. He dictates several thousand words a day etc” [MTP].
Clemens’ A.D. for the day: Letter from French girl enclosing cable about “Huck Finn”—The Juggernaut Club – Letter from Librarian of Brooklyn Public Library in regard to “Huckleberry Finn” and “Tom Sawyer.” Clemens’ reply — The deluge of reporters trying to discover the contents of that letter [MTP Autodict2].
Isabel Lyon’s journal:
“Today came a note from Mr. Howells who returned with it a batch of auto-ms. which Mr. Clemens took up there yesterday. He wants to read all the 578 pages that went before the batch he had—and he thinks it is wonderful. Says that Mr. Clemens is ‘nakeder than Adam & Eve put together’ in his absolutely sincerity” [MTP TS 63].
B.M. Byrne wrote on Jackson City Bank, Jackson Mich. letterhead to Sam. “I am addressing you for the Outlook Circle of The Kings Daughters, to learn if if would be possible for them to secure you for a lecture here this Spring” [MTP].
Fred E. Farnsworth for the Bankers’ Club of Detroit wrote to Sam asking if he could deliver an address sometime in the last week of April or the second week in May [MTP].
Benjamin W. Gilchrist for Geo. A. Hasley Council, Newark, NJ wrote to Sam asking for a lecture during May [MTP].
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