April 23 Tuesday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: “The King has new and gaudy maxim: “Prostitution is the thief of time” [MTP TS 53].
Edith Elsie Baker for the Actors’ Fund of America wrote to “gratefully acknowledge Sam’s $10 donation and 3 volumes of HF for their fair [MTP].
April 22 Monday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam inscribed a copy of JA to Dorothy Butes: “To Dorothy—/ with the affectionate regards of / The Author. On the whole it is better to deserve honors & not have them, thatn have them & not deserve them. / Truly Yours / Mark Twain/ April 22/07 [MTP].
Sam also wrote to daughter Jean in Katonah, N.Y.
April 21 Sunday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: “We left Hartford this morning, came to the station in Billy Whitmore’s mobile, and then as we couldn’t get a parlor car, we sat in the ordinary coach and the King talked every moment” [MTP TS 53].
Lillie d’Angelo Bergh wrote for Woman’s Press Club of NYC to ask Sam “some opinions” in a letter she enclosed (not in file) [MTP].
April 20 Saturday – Sam was in Hartford and met with the ladies who were first members of his Saturday Morning Club 30 years before. He wrote of the good time in a letter to Jean on Apr. 22.
Athenaeum printed an anonymous review of CS, p.466-8. Tenney: “Mostly summary; favorable, calls MT ‘one of the sanest, least prejudiced of men’ [43].
Clemens A.D. for this day is listed by MTP as “Imaginary Interview with the President.”
April 19 Friday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: We’re just starting for Hartford. It is snowing and the King who is lathering his face for a shave suggests that I get Mrs. Whitmore on the telephone and tell her that he “may be a little late in arriving for he has mislaid one of his snowshoes.” And then such a chuckle of delight he gives as he swabs his face and I go spinning up to the telephone. I wouldn’t dampen one joke of the King’s for worlds, except where Mrs. Rogers is concerned, for she can’t be joked with over a telephone. Dinner tonight at Mrs.
April 18 Thursday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam replied on Frank T. Searight’s Apr. 12 letter: “never make another land voyage that can be avoided either honorably or otherwise” [MTP].
At 8:15 p.m. Clara Clemens gave a performance in Fredonia, N.Y. The Fredonia Censor advertised her upcoming concert and on Apr. 24 reviewed it:
April 17 Wednesday – Sam’s A.D. of one year later noted the anniversary: “a fortunate day, a golden day, and my heart has never been empty of grandchildren since.” Cooley writes:
April 16 Tuesday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam gave instructions to Lyon for reply to Mark G. McElhinney’s Apr. 3. “Thank him for his letter & say that by & by when his philosophy is printed he will send him a confidential copy” [MTP].
Sam also replied by writing on Dr. Edward Anthondy Spitzka’s Apr. 10. “Well, I read the other one, & got some thing out of it for the C. S. book. Glad to have it. Life’s getting a little dull lately, & nothing excites me like the encephalic” [MTP].
April 15 Monday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: “Twichells go” [MTP TS 53].
Frederick D. Evans wrote from Fort McDowell, Calif. to Sam being bothered by a statement Sam made in “Concerning the Jews”some four years before, he thought in Harper’s Magazine. “That you had no prejudice against any nationality—save one. / What is that one?” [MTP]. Note: Lyon wrote on the letter: “Quote the paragraph / no recollection / explain it if he can”
April 14 Sunday – With William Dean Howells and Daniel Frohman and 800 children, Sam attended a matinee performance of P&P by The Educational Alliance, Children’s Theatre, N.Y.C. and gave a curtain speech. The New York Times, p.9, “Mark Twain Tells of Being an Actor” reported:
MARK TWAIN TELLS OF BEING AN ACTOR
He Sees His Own “The Prince and the Pauper,” and Relates Story of 22 Years Ago.
——— ——— ———
STAGE SPEECH CUT SHORT
He Managed to Narrate, However,