January 16 Thursday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote to Julia Langdon Loomis (1871- 1948), daughter of Charles J. and Ida Clark Langdon.
Jan 16, I think.
Julie dear, it is 10:30 a.m., & time for the dictating to begin; but it wont for I am half full of whisky—& not yet finished. I have discovered a cold, & this is to break it up; for with my bronchital tendencies I dread a cold as the Presbyterian burnt child dreads perdition.
Don’t worry about the appeal in behalf of the poor in the South. Miss Lyon will squelch that without placing it before me—she does the like every day, & through habit & long experience, it costs her neither time nor pangs.
(Intermission of 5 minutes for whisky) But what delights me is that your letter has come just in time! For I am thinking out another “doe-luncheon” for about Feb. 10.
No unbrilliant person is admitted to the sacred function called the “doe-luncheon.” Brightness conceded, character be damned! You are eligible, Julie dear.
Two or 3 times, this season, I have called to 21 Fifth Ave. a stag-party luncheon—Howells, Harvey, Augustus Thomas & so on—the bright lights of the sex, none others admitted. Then comes that rare bird & darling of mine, Kate Douglas Wiggin Riggs, & says reproachfully, “The brilliance, is not limited to the stags—give a doe-luncheon & you will see.”
And she was right. I summoned the does for the 14th & by God she was justified!
(Brief interval for additional whisky.) There were about 8 inviteès, & not one of them failed to accept! A high compliment, nicht wahr? I was the only lady of my sex present. Ethel Barrimore [sic], & we captured Aunt Clara Stanchfield by telephone in her place, the peer of the best doe present. About the 10th of Feb, I mean to repeat, leaving out 2 or 3 of the first gang, & putting in 2 or 3 new ones in their places. I want you; & in due time Miss Lyon will notify you & we shall hope you will be able to come.
With love to you & Edward & the posterity, …[MTP].
Dr. Edward Quintard paid a sick call on Sam and ordered him to stay in bed. Sam was suffering from a bad cold which developed into bronchitis, a chronic health problem for him, especially in winter [NY Times Jan. 20, 1908, p.9 “Mark Twain No Worse”].
In the evening Ralph W. Ashcroft came by and played hearts with Sam and Isabel Lyon until 2 or 3 a.m. [Jan. 17 to Quick; IVL entry below]:
Isabel Lyon’s journal: The King says that the Almighty is looking after him a little better than usual, or else he is punishing Mrs. Broughton by giving the King a snuffly cold in his head, so that he can’t go to her reception today. The King was going to dictate, and then he decided to fill up with whiskey and stay in bed, to try to get rid of the cold in him.
(My bell rings)
The King has written brilliant letter to Mrs. Loomis under the inspiration of the whiskey and as I sat beside his bed and we discussed the inspirational qualities of whiskey he said that there is something in it that strips off the artificialities of man, and brings out the real creature. They are the cobwebs that cover our brains & hearts & they are made by the conventionalities.
But that doesn’t mean in my mind that we must strip off our conventionalities by means of whiskey. (Later) Ashcroft came to dine and for cards. We played Hearts until after 3 in the morning, and the King got drunk. He sailed around the room trying to reach the door & landing up in the corner by the Joan of Arc. He cast a gay little eye over at me in his unsteady gait, & said “I’m just practicing,” as he sailed with light footsteps over to the door & up to the bath room. Ashcroft began to spill his cards on the floor and I picked up a discard of 27 cards and tried to arrange it as my hand. So much for the whole quart of scotch they—we—drank [MTP:
IVL TS 8-9; also in part, Hill 194]. Note: Hill begins at “Ashcroft came to dine,” and inserts commas, and changes many “&” marks to “and.”
H.H. Rogers wrote from N.Y.C. to Sam.
The enclosed letters will explain themselves.
Lest you do not understand, I beg to inform you that Henry Watterson evidently is going to attend the Booker T. Washington Meeting on Friday evening, and you are invited to the platform or a box. If you want my company, I will go in a box with you, provided I can wear a veil. I think, however, that Mrs. Rogers is going to ask you and Stone to dinner Friday night. If you want to go to the Washington Meeting, we can take Stone along with us and have cards at another time.
Please let me hear from you by telephone or messenger what you will do. / Yours truly… [MTHHR 643-4]. Note: See Washington’s Jan. 8 to MT and his reply shortly after. J.H. Friedlander for Groupe Architectes Americain, NYC sent Sam a typed invite to a dinner at the University Club on Jan. 28 to honor NYC’s mayor, George B. McClellan, Jr. with a medal [MTP].
Elinor Glyn wrote on Plaza Hotel, NYC notepaper to Sam.
I am sending you my report of the interview we had, so I think you will be amused to find what an accurate ‘reporter’ I am! Even if you feel you would rather I did not publish it, I shall always keep it in memory of a delightful afternoon with a delightful American gentleman….P.S. I wonder if you knew how charming you were that afternoon?! & if you remember what wise things you said? [MTP]. Note: TS of her “interview” in the file.
Howells & Stokes wrote to Miss Lyon about Harry Lounsbury’s bill [MTP].
Eden Phillpotts wrote from Torquay, England to Sam. “Very hearty thanks for your good letter. Now that you have granted my suit I am violently impressed with the inadequacy of the offering. / Yet you, who have written of the human boy as nobody else has, will not object to extend your friendship to my little company. / The book will appear anon & a copy shall reach you at the earliest moment. / Meantime receive the dedication; & if there is so much as a syllable that does not please you, order its alteration …[MTP]. Note: enclosed the title page and dedication to Mark Twain of The Human Boy Again by Phillpotts (1908); see Gribben 544.