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June 8 Wednesday – Clara Clemens’ thirteenth birthday. It’s not known if Clara went with her parents for the short stay at Frederick E. Church’s.

Grace King added to her June 7 letter to her sister:

After breakfast, Wednesday —

Have just come in from the loveliest drive imaginable. The first thing after breakfast was to admire the pictures, the armor…& rugs — then there was a whisper that Mr Church was waiting for prayers; so in we marched into a little sitting room where Bibles were placed every where. Mrs Church gave the place the 15th chapter of St John — & read two verses then requested Mr Clemens to follow suit. He evidently had not counted on his personal assistance, & could not find the place — but his wife read & then we all in turn. It was pretty trying — Mrs Warner & Mrs Clemens are so English in their pronunciation & intonation that I felt like a squeaking manikin. However my verses were short and it only came to me twice. Clemens found his place and read along with the rest. Then Mr Church read a prayer. It was a very touching little ceremony and chimed in well with the beautiful surroundings in the house and the scenery outside…[Bush 34].

On June 10, King wrote to her sister, Nina Ansley King about the evening of June 8:

“Joe Twichell” the pastor of the whole crowd came Wednesday evening. A splendid looking man of about forty — genial and warm hearted and sympathetic as a Southerner. He made the party complete and that evening we had a fine time. He told stories, Clemens read Browning, Mrs. W played on the piano [Bush 35].

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Day By Day Acknowledgment

Mark Twain Day By Day was originally a print reference, meticulously created by David Fears, who has generously made this work available, via the Center for Mark Twain Studies, as a digital edition.   

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