February 19 Wednesday – In the evening Sam attended the Pilgrim’s Club Dinner at Delmonico’s in honor of Ambassador to England, Whitelaw Reid. The New York Times, Feb. 20, p. 3 reported:
AMBASSADOR REID THE PILGRIM’S GUEST
Tells Them Talk of War with Japan is Silly and That England Wouldn’t Aid Her.
——— ——— ———
CHEER KING AND PRESIDENT
Ex-ambassador Choate Presides In President Duncan’s Absence—Mark Twain Speaks.
February 18 Tuesday – Sam’s A.D. of Feb. 19 discloses his activities for the day and evening:
February 17 Monday – Sam inscribed a copy of Eve’s Diary to Kim C. Tabley: “To / Mrs. K.C. Tapley / with compliments of / The Author. / Clothes make the man, but they do not improve the woman. / Truly Yours / Mark Twain / Feb/08” [Nate D. Sanders, Autographs, eBay # 170659440080 June 26, 2011]. Note: evidently Twain thought her last name was “Tapley,” though the incoming (below) clearly shows “Tabley.”
Isabel Lyon’s journal: “Yes, we are to go to Bermuda on next Saturday” [MTP: IVL TS 24].
February 16 Sunday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote to William Augustus Croffut.
My dear Croffut:
You will see by this morning’s clipping that there is hardly any likelihood that the Knickerbocker will resume business. My deposit is $51,199, & I am not expecting 15 per cent of it to escape alive.
February 15 Saturday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: Such a sweet comfort of an evening I have had with the King, after a busy & fluttering kind of a day. Mr. Rogers came in for a long talk this morning. Brio left at 12:45, leaving a baddish taste in Santa’s mouth. At 2:15 C. Teller called up asking if the King would come to the telephone, but he wouldn’t of course, & then she sent in a note asking him to go to the Brevort (where she is stopping) in order to do some work which he alone could do.
February 14 Friday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote to daughter Jean in Greenwich, Conn.
February 13 Thursday – In the evening at 21 Fifth Ave. Clara Clemens gave a musical presentation to about 140 persons, accompanied by Miss Marie Nichols of Boston, a violinist, and Charles E. Wark, pianist The NY Times, Feb. 14, p 7, “Miss Clemens’s Musicale” lists the following 60 guests. See also Sam’s Feb. 14 to Jean.
February 12 Wednesday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam replied to the Jan. 16 from Eden Phillpotts about Phillpotts’ proposed book dedication to Mark Twain:
My dear friend: / Indeed there is not a single syllable to be altered. The dedication pleases me “to the limit”—it could not be improved. I am anticipating a good time in the society of that book.
February 11 Tuesday – Sam hosted his second “Doe Luncheon” at 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. [Feb. 7 to Mary Rogers; IVL TS 20].
Sam also sketched drawings to Dorothea Gilder and Helena Gilder (Mrs. Richard Watson Gilder), guests of the luncheon. To Dorothea he drew a sailboat with two figures on deck and one falling overboard, then wrote, “Ship sinking—man overboard / SLC.” To Helena he wrote a lady with an umbrella in the rain and wrote, “Lady out in the rain / SLC.” [MTP].
February 10 Monday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: All day the King has been playing with Dorothy, & when she left this afternoon he went upstairs quite lonely, but tired too & so he slept. I was having a long interview with a Dr. Beal who is a friend of the Col. Ingersoll family and surreptitiously he is trying to interest some rich people to buy the house Mrs. Ingersoll is now living in. And the man told me how he had been the one to start the fund for Mr. Clemens when he met with his failure through the Webster Company.