November 25 Monday – Julia Barnett Rice for the Society of Suppression of Noise wrote to Sam: “Dear Mr. Clemens / We both thank you—the small boy and I. /Gratefully yours…” [MTP]. Note: Rice was crusading against fireworks that injured and killed many small boys each July.
November 24 Sunday – Mary L. Brady wrote to thank Sam for the P&P play; she also praised Mrs. Fry and Miss Herts [MTP].
Richard Conried wrote from NYC to ask to include Clemens’ name on the list of patrons for their Jan. 7 Benefit Entertainment, Manhattan Trade School for Girls [MTP]. Note: Lyon wrote on the letter, “Use the name”
Kate Douglas Riggs wrote a verse in reply to Sam’s thanks for the “noble feed & noble company” note of Nov. 22 [MTP]. Note: see the poem in MTJ, 21:3 (Spring, 1983).
November 23 Saturday – Hamilton W. Mabie’s article, “Mark Twain the Humorist,” ran in Outlook (NY), p. 648-53. Tenney: “A general, admiring discussion of the man and his works, generally uncritical though noting the ephemeral quality of some of his writing. On p. 648, full- page photograph of MT” [44].
Joseph B. Gilder for Putnam’s Monthly wrote to Miss Lyon about Sam sitting for a portrait [MTP].
November 22 Friday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote a short note to Kate D. Riggs. “It was a noble feed & a noble company, and you are a dear. Heaven bless you! / MARK” [MTP: Nora Archibald Smith, Kate Douglas Wiggin as Her Sister Knew Her, 1925 p.139]. See Rigg’s Nov. 24 reply.
November 21 Thursday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam began a letter to Mary B. Rogers that he finished on Nov. 29.
Well, dear, you are a brilliant little rascal, & the flashes spurt up all along your sentence-wires, interval by interval, & if I had a mile-perspective on them I should think it was a trolley, blue- sparking its way down the distances——but
November 20 Wednesday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: A reporter from the Brooklyn Eagle has been here. / Frederick Boyd Stevenson. So far the best man to represent the press. Mr. Clemens was willing to see him [MTP TS 120]. Note: F.B. Stevenson (1859-1938) retired in 1930 after editing and writing a Sunday column, “Top of the News” for the Eagle. He was author of The Amalgamated Americans and a contributor to magazines of economics and political subjects. He specialized in national, international and civic affairs.
November 19 Tuesday – Sam gave a curtain speech at the P&P performance by the Children’s Educational Theatre, directed by Alice Minnie Herts. The New York Times, Nov. 20, p.9, reported on the event:
UPTOWN AUDIENCE AT CHILDREN’S PLAY
Society Folk, as Mark Twain’s Guests, See “The Prince and the Pauper.”
——— ——— ———
HOST’S SPEECH CUT SHORT
Miss Herts, Founder of the Theatre, Says the Object is to Develop Latent Dramatic Talent.
November 18 Monday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote to Frances Nunnally.
November 17 Sunday – Rudolphine Scheffer Ely wrote from NYC to Sam inviting him to the opening meeting of the Civic Forum on Wednesday, Nov. 20 [MTP]. Note: Lyon wrote on the letter, “Mr. Clemens has engagement”
H.E. Wallace, Jr. wrote from NYC a letter of appreciation for “Huck and Jim” [MTP].
C.C. White wrote from Milford, Mass. to Miss Lyon, touched by the NAR segment with the death of Susy [MTP].
November 16 Saturday – Alice Minnie Herts wrote to Miss Lyon the “final plan” for next Tuesday (19th) evening [MTP].
Julia Marlowe wrote on The Plaza, NYC notepaper to Sam. “I am eager you should see this reprint of an article by Arthur Symons which appeared in London…Do you not think it superbly written?” [MTP].