August 8 Saturday – Isabel Lyon’s journal:  The King wandered out from dinner tonight to look at a wonderful sunset and he called Benares and me to look at the mighty show. But we were compelled to stop in the great room to look at the slim beautiful white figure of the King standing in an archway of the loggia, with the hills and gorgeous glow of the sunset as a background.

August 7 Friday – George B. Harvey and David A. Munro ended their 2 day visit [new guestbook].

H.C. Fish for N. Dakota State Historical Soc. wrote from Bismark, N.D. to ask if under date of May 26, 1874 Clemens had checked into the Capitol House in Bismark [MTP]. Note: IVL: “Mr. Clemens was not West at all in 1874.”

August 6 Thursday – Paine writes of Sam’s reaction to Samuel Moffett’s death:

Clemens was fond and proud of his nephew. Returning from the funeral, he was much depressed, and a day or two later became really ill. He was in bed for a few days, resting, he said, after the intense heat of the journey. Then he was about again and proposed billiards as a diversion. We were all alone one very still, warm August afternoon playing, when he suddenly said:

      “I feel a little dizzy; I will sit down a moment.”

August 5 Wednesday – Sam called on H.H. Rogers’ office at 26 Broadway and talked William Robertson Coe into visiting Redding with his wife “later in the season.” Later in the day he returned to his Redding home, accompanied by Col. George B. Harvey and David Munro (of the N.A.R.), who stayed over until Aug. 7 [Aug. 6 to Emilie Rogers; IVL TS 56 below].

August 4 Tuesday – Sam went to New York City for the funeral of his nephew, Samuel E. Moffett, and where, per Robert Collier, he wrote to the Accident Insurance Co. which had determined that Moffett did not die from an accident but from natural causes. Moffett held an accidental death policy but had few assets.

Dear Sir

I shall be obliged to you for giving every consideration in your power to the case of my nephew, Samuel G Moffett, who was insured in your company and who died on Sat. Aug. 1st.

August 3 Monday – In Redding, Conn. Sam wrote to Dorothy Sturgis.

Dear Dorothy: /Good! Then you will be very welcome in September, & your journey from Boston will not be a heavy one. We will tell you how to come, & what trains to take.

And so this is hoping you can come September 18 , & stay till Sept. 25 . Francesca M. A., (Member of the Aquarium) will arrive Sept. 20th or 21st from England. Other guests will arrive on the 26th.

August 2 Sunday– In Redding, Conn. Sam wrote to Charles M. Fairbanks.

Dear Charley— / Will you please entrust temporarily to the hands of the bearer, Mr. W. R. Ashcroft, such of my old letters and original (unpublished) MSS as your mother left in the family’s possession, so that he may have copies made of them for me. I have empowered Clara to publish a book of my letters for her bread-&-butter’s sake, (after my death.) / Sincerely Yours [MTP].

August 1 Saturday – Samuel E. Moffett, Sam’s nephew and longtime booster, “drowned in the surf off the Jersey beach,” while his wife and children (Anita Moffett, 17 and Francis Clemens Moffat, 13) watched from shore. He was 47. At the time of his death he was an editor of Collier’s Weekly [MTHHR 651n1; NY Times Aug. 2, 1908 p.1]. Note: The Times gives Normandie-By-The-Sea (now Normandy Beach, N.J. just sount of Pt. Pleasant). See Aug. 6 to Emilie R. Rogers. The New York Times reported the tragedy on the front page of its Aug. 2 issue:

August 1908 to February 1909 — Sometime during this period Albert I. Frye wrote from Brooklyn, NY to inquire of Sam a “less expensive method to insure copyright” [MTP]. Note: In the file a note by the MTP staff: “Since MLH, Mary L. Howden, is SLC’s stenographer from Aug 1908 to Feb 1909, this letter must have been written during that time”; the same note is in several letter files.

August – In Redding, Conn. Sam inscribed a photo of him seated (by Underwood & Underwood) with “best wishes” and the month/year to Jeannette Cholmeley-Jones [MTP].

Sam also inscribed a copy of JA to Mrs. Niehaus: “Truly Yours / Mark Twain / To Mrs. Niehaus, / the dear & valued friend of my daughter Jean—with my gratitude. / SL Clemens / August, 1908” [MTP].