May 6 Monday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote to Mary B. Rogers (Mrs. H.H. Rogers, Jr.) who had sent a note [not extant] with Harry Rogers.
To the Shah-in-Shah of Nieces— / Greeting & salutation:
Oh dear me! that I should have this ill luck—the only member of the family that can’t be there. For I shall be in Maryland then, & shan’t get back to Tuxedo until next Monday or Tuesday. I am sorry & disappointed; for I was counting on the pleasure of being present. Yes, & I was going to scrape acquaintance with Mr. Lackland on the basis of the fact that I knew a Lackland in St Louis 47 years ago—in the steamboat trade. Not that I knew him well, but only as a subordinate knows a superior, his rank being so much higher than mine as to forbid a nearer connection. I tell you, Etiquette was strict out there, Mary dear! Do please convey for me my cordial congratulations to the bride & groom.
When you are out driving, won’t you call at my house or get a novel (published by M Clure) by Marjorie Bowen, & read a part or all of it & tell me what you think of it? Please. I don’t remember its name, but it is the only one there by M. B. You can read it without prejudice or predilection, but I couldn’t, because it is dedicated to me. It is based on the Massacre of Glencoe, but it mercifully leaves out (or but gently touches) the main horrors. I think that is greatly to the girl’s credit, for there would naturally be a strong temptation to do the other thing.
The Fair started well, this afternoon, & I am sure it is going to be handsomely successful. It would have interested you, & I was sorry you were not there.
If you will be so good, dear madam, as to present my humble service to your estimable daughter, & say that the tenderness which I—but of this anon. / Affectionately [MTP]. Note: The Master of Stair (1907) by Marjorie Bowen (pseud. for Gabrielle Margaret Vere Long). The individual Lackland he referred to here is not further identified; Sam served on the Rufus J. Lackland in either 1857 or 1859. See July 11, 1857 entry, Vol. I.
The NY Tribune, p. 8, “Money Flows to Fund” reported on Mark Twain’s efforts for the actors’ fund:
Actors’ Benefit Defies Weather—President Pushes Button.
Everything was fair yesterday [May 6] at the Metropolitan Opera House when President Roosevelt, in Washington, touched a little gold button and set the chimes ringing the start of the biggest benefit ever planned for the Actors’ Fund in a town noted for such fairs. Everybody who is anybody in the theatrical profession and who was in New York and could get away was there, to give the show a proper send-off.
There was only one absentee, and that was Mrs. Sydney Rosenfeld. Needless to say, Mark Twain was there, and so were his books, in the Century Theatre Club booth. Despite the late unpleasantness, Mark showed no hard feelings and won the heartiest kind of applause when he said, in speaking of the objects of the fair, that charity was a religion, broad enough for all to stand on.
The New York Times, p 5 also reported on the Fair:
ACTORS’ FUND FAIR OPENS WITH VIM
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Roosevelt Presses the Button and Then Mark Twain Makes a Speech.
SEEK TO RAISE $250,000
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First Two Tickets Bring $1,500—Actresses Preside Over Many Attractive Booths.
At exactly 2 o’clock yesterday afternoon President Roosevelt, in Washington, pressed a button; the lights of the Metropolitan Opera House here, which had been extinguished, flashed on again; cannon boomed; the band played; Mark Twain made a speech; and the Actors’ Fund Fair was declared open to the public. Even while the building was reverberating with the report of the canon a shower of tiny American flags fluttered from the roof down into the village street of Stratford-on-Avon, the central highway of the bazaar.
As soon as the sound of the cannonade had died away, the officers of the fund filed on to the platform at the western end of the Opera House. Daniel Frohman, President of the fund, made the opening address.
“Nothing is more appropriate than that we should begin with the playing of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner,’” said Mr. Frohman. “We intend to make this a banner week in the history of the fund. The Actors’ Fund is not a restricted institution. It takes a broad and sympathetic interest in every one on the stage—whether he be actor, singer, dancer, or workman. Since the time of the last fair at Madison Square Garden the fund has expended from $500 to $600 weekly in its charities. In other words, we have spent more than $40,000 a year.
Mr. Frohman, after briefly describing the nature of the fund and citing the necessarily precarious living of the actor, continued: “Charity covers a multitude of sins, and it also reveals a multitude of virtues. We are grateful for the help of Mr. Roblee, and his assistant, Mr. Price, and Mrs. A. M. Palmer, who has taken up the work that her husband would have done had he remained with us. We are grateful to all who have assisted in bringing preparations to a successful conclusion.
“At the opening of the former fair we had the assistance of Edwin Booth and Joseph Jefferson. In their place we have today that American institution and apostle of wide humanity—Mark Twain.”
Mark Twain’s Plea for the Actor.
Mark Twain, whose famous white suit and white hair made him a conspicuous figure from the minute he entered the hall, was received with general applause. He spoke tersely and deliberately.
“As Mr. Frohman has said,” the humorist began, “charity reveals a multitude of virtues. This is true, and it is to be proved here before the week is over. Mr. Frohman has told you something of the object and something of the character of the work. He told me he would do this—and he has kept his word! I had expected to hear of it through the newspapers. I wouldn’t trust anything between Frohman and the newspapers—except when it’s a case of charity!
“You should all remember that the actor has been your benefactor many and many a year. When you have been weary and downcast he has lifted your heart out of gloom and given you a fresh impulse. You are all under obligation to him. This is your opportunity to be his benefactor —to help provide for him in his old age and when he suffers from infirmities.
“At this fair no one is to be persecuted to buy. If you offer a twenty-dollar bill in payment for a purchase of $1 you will receive $10 in change. There is to be no robbery here. There is to be no creed here—no religion except charity. We want to raise $250,000—and that is a great task to attempt.
“The President has set the fair in motion by pressing the button in Washington. Now your good wishes are to be transmuted into cash.
“By virtue of the authority in me vested I declare the fair open. I call the ball game. Let the transmuting begin.”
Jean Clemens wrote from Katonah, N.Y. to Sam, letter not extant but referred to in his May 14 reply.
Isabel Lyon’s journal: “Today we came into town. The King opened the Actor’s Fund Fair” [MTP TS 56].