July 5 Saturday – In York Harbor, Maine Sam wrote to James B. Pond. “Your belated pad of paper arrived last night. Why didn’t you send your letter & pad together—like a rational person. Shall I write the 26 again?” [MTP].
Sam also wrote again to Pond. The beginning of the letter is missing.
July 4 Friday – In York Harbor, Maine Sam inscribed How to Tell a Story and Other Essays to James B. Pond [MTP].
July 3 Thursday – In York Harbor, Maine Sam wrote three notes to Franklin G. Whitmore. The first included a check for taxes, postdated July 14. He sent it early “to have it off my mind.” The second note: “I want no correspondence with those people. But you can say you submitted it to me & it was found to be correct. (Please use just those precisewords.)”. The third replied to a request for a thousand more autographs. “I’ve no cards, & now I’m about out of paper.
July 2 Wednesday – In York Harbor, Maine Sam wrote to Jules Eckert Goodman, who was seeking an extension for his play to include the next season. In a short paragraph Sam referred him to Elisabeth Marbury, who acted as Sam’s sole agent in matters dramatization [MTP].
Sam also wrote to a man identified only as Mr. Ar ——– , 122 Mansfield, Montreal, Canada: “I think that without doubt I did, but I don’t remember, now, what the word was” [MTP].
July 1 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook: “First ½ payment to be made on York Harbor ($300.) / Mrs. E. Hartwig will call. / 16 W. Friendship st / Providence, R.I. / from the Queen of Roumania” [NB 45 TS19]. Note: Mrs. Hartwig had been in the Queen’s court for many years; see Queen to MT May 9, 1902; also Sam’s letter of recommendation for Mrs. Hartwig Nov. 16, 1904.
July – Cassell’s Magazine p.115-21 ran “A Day with Mark Twain.” Tenney: “On a visit to MT at Saranac Lake, New York; consists largely of familiar biographical data, with five photographs” [37].
Review of Reviews (London), p.54 included “Mark Twain and His Career.” Tenney: “Summarizes and quotes W.B. Northrop’s ‘A Day with Mark Twain’ in the July Cassell’s” [36].
July-August – William Dean Howells writes of the summer near the Clemens family:
June 30 Monday – Livy wrote Harriet Whitmore thanking her for referring Isabel Van Kleek Lyon (1863-1958) for hire as a personal secretary. Livy wanted Miss Lyon to visit for “a few days” and interview. They had a guest room until Clara returned. If hired, Livy preferred that Isabel would find a boarding place outside of the home [MTOW 19]. Note: see source for full letter. Lyon came in mid July and was hired; she began employment with the Clemens family early in October.
June 29 Sunday – In York Harbor, Maine Sam wrote to cousin, Dr. James R. Clemens in St. Louis.
We arrived here day before yesterday & are comfortably & smoothly keeping house already; I am at work & we are all feeling at home & in condition to put the summer through in good shape.
June 28 Saturday – In York Harbor, Maine Sam wrote to Harry Leon Wilson after reading his book, The Spenders; A Tale of the Third Generation (1902).
“Between you & me & the gate-post, I think it’s a dam-nation good book! It cost me my day yesterday.
You owe me $400. But never mind it. I forgive you, for the book’s sake” [MTP].
June 23 Monday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam replied to the June 19 of Harry Leon Wilson in the editorial rooms of Puck, N.Y.C.
“Read it? Indeed I will, & with great pleasure. We are packed up, now, & shall sail for York Harbor on summer vacation to-morrow morning. But the book will go thither. I went to Harper’s to-day to get it, but I had too many bundles, so I told them to ship it to me. With many thanks for the book, …” [MTP].