February 27 Monday – At the Hotel Krantz in Vienna, Austria, Sam wrote to Frank Bliss.

The enclosed has just reached me from Mr. Rogers.

I don’t quite get the idea. Why should you want to take out repetitions of old copyrights? Do it if you want to, but it doesn’t seem necessary. …

If you are afraid I could be endangered by having property in my own name—but I couldn’t be, for I don’t owe money to anyone; I am out of debt.

Sam also wrote that he’d written four magazine articles on Christian Science, containing “nothing offensive against the lay Christian Scientist…but they make remorseless fun of his pudd’nheaded little Goddlemighty, Mrs. Eddy, her jackass ‘Key’ to the Scriptures.” Would the articles damage Bliss’ prospects for the Uniform Edition? Would Bliss like to examine the articles? [MTP]. Note: Fatout in Mark Twain Speaks for Himself, claims Sam began writing on Christian Science in 1898 [177].

Sam also wrote to Robert Lutz asking him to suppress “Mark Twain’s Lebensgeschichte” and stop more copies from circulating.

“Half of the history is true, the other half is not—& but little of it is pleasant reading. According to the mainly-false 4th chapter, my wife & I were mere vulgar swine—& moreover that chapter is attributed to me! I never wrote a line of it” [MTP].