June 29 Saturday – The London Times on July 1, ran “Mark Twain and the Savage Club” about the Lord Mayor of London giving a dinner with Mark Twain as guest, Saturday night (June 29) at the Savage Club. But first, Sam had to travel to Stratford for a luncheon and be trapped by Marie Corelli. Sam’s own words are the best account of the event, which he tried unsuccessfully to wriggle out of:
June 28 Friday – Though all 27 days Sam spent in England were busy, Sam labeled this day as especially so. From Sam’s A.D. for July 30:
June 27 Thursday – Sam attended the Oxford Pageant. The Oxford Chronicle, June 28, p.16, “Yesterday at the Pageant” reported Sam’s appearance at 3:45 p.m. The London Daily Express, reported on the gala event, (June 28, p. 1, “Pageant in the Mist”) and on Mark Twain’s attendance:
The first performance of the Oxford Pageant began yesterday [June 27] in a blaze of glory, and closed—amid cheers—in a Scotch mist.
June 26 Wednesday – The big day in Oxford, England: The Encoeonia (conferring of degrees) took place at the Sheldonian Theater in the morning.
Exactly one month later, Sam wrote of the affair:
June 25 Tuesday – This day’s issue of Punch was dedicated to Mark Twain, and included a full-page cartoon, by Bernard Partridge (see insert); the original would be presented to Sam at the July 9 Punch dinner by little Joy Agnew. The New York Times, June 26, 1907, p. 5, ran a Special Cablegram article on the “certification” of Mark Twain as a humorist by the publication.
MARK TWAIN HUMOR APPROVED BY PUNCH
June 24 Monday – At Brown’s Hotel in London Ralph W. Ashcroft wrote for Sam to Marie Corelli.
“Mark Twain thanks you for having saved him from the crime of high treason to literature & he will accordingly visit the tomb & house of the Bard of Avon & take luncheon with you—if it will be convenient to you—a Saturday June 29th which is the only possible date” [MTP].
June 23 Sunday – At Brown’s Hotel in London, Sam wrote to daughter Jean in Katonah, N.Y.
I have been having a rather perfect good time since we reached England last Tuesday morning. The first greeting was a hail & a hurrah from the stevedores on the dock; & since then I have climbed all the rounds of the ladder & shaken hands with all the grades, from the stevedores on up to king & queen.
June 22 Saturday – Sam attended the Royal Garden Party at Windsor, which marked the end of Ascot week. Ten special trains were scheduled between Paddington and Windsor. The Lord Chamberlain issued the invitations. Mark Twain was accompanied by Ralph Ashcroft (left), and Mr. and Mrs. John Henniker Heaton. See insert photo [MTFWE 27].
June 21 Friday – When newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic reported on Mark Twain venturing out on the street in his bathrobe (Paine calls it a “heavy brown bath robe,” the papers called it “sky-blue”) Clara Clemens cabled: “MUCH WORRIED. REMEMBER PROPRIETIES” [MTB 1384-5; IVL TS 75]. Sam replied by cable to Clara: “THEY ALL PATTERN AFTER ME. FATHER.” [MTP].
June 20 or 27 — M.A. FitzGerald wrote from Hyde Park asking if Sam could “spare a little time?” as he “must speak with you” about an unspecified matter [MTP].