September 7 Friday – In Dublin, N.H. Sam sent a telegram to Henry Campbell- Bannerman, English Prime Minister.
Congratulations, not condolences. Before 70 we are merely respected, at best, & we have to behave all the time or we lose that asset; but after 70 we are respected, esteemed, admired, revered, & don’t have to behave unless we want to. When I first knew you, one of us was hardly even respected.
Mark Twain [MTP]. Note: this is a near exact copy which he wrote into his Aug. 28 to Mary B. Rogers that he wrote he’d sent by request of an English newspaper, Sam also inscribed his photo to George Copeland. “It is one’s human environment that makes the climate. Mr. George Copeland, with kind regards of Mark Twain, Sept. 7,1906.” [MTP: Swann Galleries catalogs, 24 Sept 1942, No. 21, Item 116].
Isabel Lyon wrote Sam’s instructions for reply to John Larkin, attorney. “Much obliged to him for offering to represent Mr. C. in that Co—quite right in supposing that he does not wish to be bothered. Thank Larkin. Send him the $75 & tell him to go ahead. But send him something to sign” [MTP].
Clemens’ A.D. of this day included: The statement made at the banquet of The Ends of the Earth club, “We are of the Anglo-Saxon race, “etc.—Our public & private mottos & morals— Clemens’ tribute to British Premier Campbell-Bannerman on his seventieth birthday— Meeting Labouchere—Anecdote of the lost deed which was to have been presented to Prince of Wales [MTP Autodict2].
Isabel Lyon’s journal: I can’t do anything this morning but number checks & I blunder at that. It’s the wonder of that music—that Leken—I couldn’t sleep—I didn’t want to sleep. The wild passionate torrent of sound rang through me all the night & today I am weak. This afternoon we went to the concert at Mr. [Franklin] MacVeagh’s. The King & I walked over through the woods; his mood was so sweet & I suggested getting him some white stockings to wear with his white clothes. But he won’t have white stockings; he prefers scarlet—just as an accent [MTP TS 117-118].
George B. Harvey wrote to Sam.
Dear Uncle Mark / I have just visited Heaven with the Cap’n—His account seems exact, truthful and, as you say, godly—too damn godly for a secular paper like the Magazine—I’m sure it wouldn’t do to print it now and I guess you’re sure too, if you’ll tell the truth—The first review is out today & in a few days I’ll send you what they all say about it—
I think it is pretty good—
When are you coming home? / GH [MTP].
Sam then wrote instructions for Isabel V. Lyon at the top of Harvey’s above letter: “Tell him I arrive Monday 17 . Give him some abuse about the Horse’s Tale illustrations. Write it in the first person & I will sign it—not to day, but in the morning. Tell him I arrive 6 p.m. (It’s a hint; I reckon he’ll know enough to recognize that)” [MTP].
Lyon then wrote for Sam to George B. Harvey. “M . Clemens is crying—but he’s going to bear it for your sake & the magazine’s. So please lend the Visit to Heaven back. He expects to arrive down there Monday the 17th &—” [MTP]. Note: this latter missive appears unfinished. Perhaps Clemens changed his mind.
Sam also wrote on the bottom page of Harvey’s above letter to Mary B. Rogers. “You see, dear, your eulogium has scared him; he’s afraid of everything, now, even theological disquisitions. This one was written 38 years ago & is still over-warm, apparently. He wanted to see it (for the Xmas Harper). Well, he has seen it. / U.M.” [for Uncle Mark] [MTP].
In the evening Sam had planned to go to a concert at Franklin MacVeagh’s. He had also encouraged Mary B. Rogers to come for the event but there is no record that she and Harry Rogers did so [Aug 26 to Mary Rogers].
Samuel Hopkins Adams for Collier’s Weekly wrote to Sam.
I thank you for returning the manuscript, and particularly for your letter, which I am only too glad to publish. It puts the case so conclusively that I even feel a sort of sneaking sympathy for the eminent name-lenders. I have changed my copy somewhat since I sent that version to you, but not in any essential.
An eminent Methodist authority, by the way, informs me (this I unfortunately cannot use) that Bishop Fowler is a stockholder in the concern, and has gone so far as to commit, in the interests of the Oppenheimer treatment, a moral, if not a legal, forgery. / With renewed thanks for your help…” [MTP].
Agnes Repplier wrote from Phila. to invite Sam to speak before the Contemporary Club this autumn or winter [MTP]. Note: see Lyon’s journal entry of Oct. 12; Sam took umbrage at the manner of the invitation.
Chapter I from “My Autobiography—I” ran in the N.A.R. p.321-30.
September 7 ca. – In Dublin, N.H. Sam wrote to Mr. Pulitzer.
I thank you for the little book; it is bright, condensed compact, & I believe it could get along plenty well enough without the translations. When a reader is so dull that he can’t understand our jokes until we explain them to him in chuckling italics & exclamation points, or shrieking capitals, his approval is not a compliment & should be discouraged [MTP].
Note: this is likely Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911), newspaper magnate and crusader who introduced “New Journalism” in the 1880s and fought big business corruption; though it may be Albert Pulitzer, Joseph’s brother, who lived until 1909; he killed himself in Florence, Italy.