February 6 Tuesday – In New York at the Players Club, Sam wrote a note to Francis Wilson, his “fellow-player and neighbor in the next room”:

…greeting and salutation! And therewithal prosperity and peace, and the continuance of our friendship until the end. Amen. / Mark Twain

On Feb. 7 Sam wrote Livy about this nights’ gathering at Robert Reid’s studio:

Last night [Feb. 6] I played billiards with Mr. Rogers until 11, then went to Robert Reid’s studio & had a most delightful time until 4 this morning. No ladies were invited this time, because there was a great ball & they would not have been able to come. Among the people present were —

Coquelin; 
Richard Harding Davis; 
Harrison, the great out-door painter 
Wm. H. Chase, the artist; 
Bettini, inventor of the new phonograph. 
Nikola Tesla, the world-wide illustrious electrician; see article about him in Jan or Feb. Century. 
John Drew, actor; 
Barnes, a marvelous mimic; my, you should see him! 
Smedly [sic] the artist; 
Zorn “ “ 
Zogbaum “ “ 
Reinhart “ “ 
Metcalf “ “ 
Ancona, head tenor at the Opera

Oh, & a great lot of others. Everybody there had done something & was in his way famous.

[See notes]

Sam related that many of the guests provided entertainment: “I told a yarn,” Ancona sang six songs, Barnes did imitations, Harding Davis sang “The Hanging of Johnny Deever,” and Kipling’s “On the Road to Mandalay,” Young Gerritt Smith played some “ravishing dance-music & we all danced about an hour.” Coquelin refused to sign the picture Sam bought to send to daughter Clara, because he wanted to send a better one.

Sam closed the letter by saying he was glad Livy was taking electric therapy and that Susy had gone on a trip [MTP, not in LLMT].

Notes: there is no record of what yarn Sam told. Robert Reid (1862-1929) American impressionist painter and muralist;. Lowell or Lovell Birge Harrison (1854-1929), landscape painter went by Birge Harrison; William H. Chase, artist and teacher, considered an American master; Gianni Bettini (1860-1938) inventor (he recorded the voices of the world’s greatest opera performers, including Enrico Caruso); Nikola Tesla (1856-1943), inventor, physicist, engineer, often called “The Father of Physics,” became a close friend of Sam’s — this may have been their first meeting; John Drew, actor; William Thomas Smedley (1858-1920) artist and illustrator, award-winning watercolorist; Anders Leonard Zorn (1860-1920), Swedish painter, sculptor, printmaker; Rufus Fairchild Zogbaum (1849-1925) illustrator for late 19th century news magazines, also a journalist and author. His works were regularly featured in Harper’s Weekly Magazine. Charles Stanley Reinhart (1844-1896), American painter and illustrator; Willard Leroy Metcalf (1858-1925), American impressionist, instructor, watercolorist; Mario Ancona (1860-1931), Italian baritone opera star. “Young” Gerrit or Gerritt Smith is not identified, nor is the mimic Barnes. (Fatout listed this as ca. February, MT Speaking 661.)

Charles Dudley Warner wrote a short note on a card to Sam: “My Dear Samuel / Not what you have but what you are is important / Yours Sincerely / Chas. Dudley Warner / Hartford / Feb. 6. 1894” [MTP].