June 20 Thursday – Sam pulled off a breach of etiquette at 8 a.m. that was widely reported, and one Livy would undoubtedly have scolded him for. New York Times, June 21, p.1, dateline June 20, London:
TWAIN STARTLES LONDON.
Strolls in Bathrobe and Bare Legs from Hotel for a Plunge.
Special Cablegram.
Copyright, 1907, by THE NEW YORK TIMES CO.
June 19 Wednesday – Paine gives us Sam’s busy schedule the day after his arrival:
Sir Thomas Lipton and Bram Stoker, old friends, were among the first to present themselves, and there was no break in the line of callers.
June 18 Tuesday – The S.S. Minneapolis docked at Tilbury, England at 4 a.m.
Just after 10 a.m., Sam came down the gangplank and was roused by the lusty cheers of the stevedores. In a few minutes he first met George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) on the dock. The Pall Mall Gazette, p. 7, reported:
“G.B.S.” AND MARK TWAIN.
FIRST MEETING OF TWO GREAT MEN
THE PALMIST’S PREDICTION.
——— ——— ———
June 17 Monday – The last night on board the Minneapolis en route to England, Sam wrote a poem on the back of a menu to Carlotta Welles:
There’s many a maid that’s dear & sweet,
In Paris, Versailles, Marly
But not one maid in any of those before-mentioned towns
That can compare with Charley. / M.T.
Front seat—don’t forget [MTAq 41].
June 16 Sunday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: It’s a hot Sunday night and I’m sitting in Santa’s music room. The sounds from the streets would make one think of a terrible carnival; for the automobiles whirl along with toots and siren calls and trumpettings and now there is a motorcycle zipping down toward Washington Square and small boys are making whistles of grass blades and as I glance out of the window couples—and couples—forever saunter past. It is I alone who sit companionless [MTP TS 70].
June 15 Saturday – On board the Minneapolis en route to England Sam gave a reading from his Autobiography MS, though it is not known just what he read [Fatout, MT Speaking 676]. Written across the top of the second and third pages of a concert program held in the saloon in aid of the Seaman’s Orphanage at 8:30 p.m.: “Please tell the story of the twins, one got drunk and affected the other” [MTP]. Note: Source gives this as to Carlotta Welles.
June 14 Friday – On board the Minneapolis en route to England Sam wrote an aphorism for German cartoonist Peter Richards, who was returning to Berlin after working for various US newspapers for two decades: “Taking the pledge will not make bad liquor good, but it will improve it. / Truly Yours / Mark Twain / For / Mr. Richards / June 14/07.” [MTP]. Note: see June 16 for more on Richards.
Isabel Lyon’s journal: All day I have been thinking about the little Redding house, and it is a good thing again to have something to take my mind away from loneliness.
June 13 Thursday – After mailing his letter of the prior day to Liverpool and learning that Sam went to London, not Liverpool, H.H. Rogers wrote again from Vichy, France, essentially repeating his news and plans of the prior letter, signing “Admiral” [MTHHR 628].
Isabel Lyon’s journal summary: Lyon went to Redding but refused to allow a female to drive her from Branchville to the new house site, as she’d been in two accidents prior with female drivers. Finally a male was there to drive her:
June 12 Wednesday – H.H. Rogers replied from Vichy, France to Sam, likely to his May 29 from Tuxedo Park. He’d rec’d Sam’s letter and thought they would meet in London as he was also invited by Lancaster of Liverpool to the Pilgrim’s Luncheon. Rogers family’s plans were to go to Paris on June 19 and to London on June 23, then on to Liverpool on June 27 and sail from Queenstown the next day. He announced if Sam wished to return with them they’d be delighted: “The only essentials this time will be drunkenness, profanity and sodomy” [MTP].
June 11 Tuesday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: This morning a man name o’ Johnson came in to talk to me about the King’s first editions. He was sent by Cartoonist Opper to AB, but not finding either he “bumped the bumps himself” and came along. He wants to make a bibliography of the King’s books. He sees money in it and wants to take me into a kind of partnership—“graft”—the King will say for I have written him a scrap of a note about it. I am so grateful for work, hard work, for now the loneliness is greater as Santa is ill with tonsillitis, really wretchedly ill.