July 20 Saturday – Sam and Ashcroft were en route to New York on the S.S. Minnetonka. The traditional last night at sea benefit program was held for the Seaman’s fund, though when it fell on a Sunday such programs were likely moved to Saturday. Fatout gives this day for the program and concert and writes that Sam spoke for an hour, including the “sock-hunting” story [MT Speaking 678]. Dorothy Quick had given her “permission” as Mark Twain’s “business manager” for him to take part (see July 16 from Cooley).
Sydney Brooks’ article “Mark Twain in England,” ran in Harper’s Weekly, p. 1053-5. Tenney:
“On MT’s popularity, and his reception when he was there to receive his Oxford degree. Cartoons of MT from London Daily Chronicle by David Wilson (p. 1053) and P. Richards (p. 1054), and photograph of MT after receiving his degree (p. 1055)” [44].
Outlook ran an anonymous article, “Mark Twain in England,” p. 578-9. Tenney: “On MT’s warm reception, here attributed to admiration for ‘two qualities in Mark Twain which have at least made him congenial to Englishmen—his stalwart moral integrity and his self-restraint” [Tenney: “A Reference Guide Third Annual Supplement,” American Literary Realism, Autumn 1979 p. 191].
An unidentified person sent the following poem on a postcard, postmarked London:
A man of Mark, Mark you.
Named Mark, Mark that Two (Twain)
Has hit the Mark, Mark it!
Mark is here, with all his wit.
Welcome RG
Boston Herald sent a telegram to Sam: “American newspapers gleefully printed your splendid wireless message / give boston herald for your newengland friends bulletins of your voyage” [MTP].
George Iles sent a postcard from Tuxedo, NY to Sam, picturing a long barn with open doors at either end and one open in the middle, the left door shows the tail of a cow, the right the head, the middle a man milking it. Iles wrote, “This recalls your St. Louis dog story” [MTP].
Dr. William J. Long wrote from Stamford, Conn to Lyon, enclosing clippings answering Roosevelt’s attack, “taken from his ‘Wilderness Hunter’” [MTP]. Note: Heading: “President Roosevelt as a Critic and Naturalist.”