December 2 Saturday – In New York Sam wrote to Livy. He enclosed Howells’ Dec. 1 request that he not wear his dress coat, writing a paragraph on the back:

Livy darling, I shall go in a dress coat just the same. I had to leave there yesterday because so many people came there was no satisfaction in the visit. Several of them called Howells out for extended private interviews. Heretofore there have been many people. But they stayed in the parlor.

Sam then wrote the balance of his letter on other pages:

I’ve been to Alexander’s & got a pair of nice arctics. There has been no snow yet, but the weather threatens to-day for the first time, to get really chilly. The pavements ought to get cold before long, now, & I do a great deal of walking [MTP]. Note: this paragraph omitted from MTLP 2: 597.

Sam also wrote about the previous night’s dinner with John Mackay.

John Mackay has no family here but a pet monkey — a most affectionate & winning little devil. But he makes trouble for the servants, for his is full of curiosity & likes to take everything out of the drawers & examine it minutely; & he puts nothing back. …

I went with Laffan to the Racquet Club the other night & played billiards two hours without starting up my rheumatism. I suppose it was really all taken out of me in Berlin [MTP].

Sam also was concerned about Livy staying at the Hotel Brighton, which she chose to save money [MTP] Willis writes of Livy’s sacrifices:

“To ward off further worry, Livy kept her husband ignorant of all she endured in the cheap Paris hotel — the cold, the bad food, the noise heard through thin walls — as she figured and refigured their income and outgo. She had chosen to live in Paris when so many Americans went home in the financial panic, and the cost of living there dropped. She admitted to Grace King in these “somber days” that she dreaded complaining to the proprietor yet again about the conditions of her lodgings because she felt he was doing all he could.

“‘Poverty is hard!’ she wrote Clara, who suggested it would be cheaper if she stayed in American since her mother insisted she pay board when visiting Aunt Sue in Elmira or friends. Livy said no. Besides, ‘There would be too much expense of longing for you to make it profitable.’ Livy’s preoccupation with funds had extended into her communication with her daughter.

“There would be no opera, theater, new clothes, extra lessons of any kind. Jean was placed in a public school. Livy hoped there would be enough money for Susy’s singing lessons, for she was relieved that Susy, having found a purpose, was happier” [209]. (Editorial emphasis.)

Sam also wrote to William A. Goodheart, letter not extant but referenced in Goodheart’s Dec 17 [MTP].

Once-A-Week magazine (London) ran an unsigned sketch of Mark Twain at a banquet honoring Henry Irving [Tenney 21: The Twainian Apr. 1943, p.6].