November 19 Monday – In the morning at 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote to Mary B. Rogers (Mrs. H.H. Rogers, Jr.), enclosing his latest photograph for her opinion; he wanted to put it in a locket for Clara. He revealed his creative method for catching up on mail, since Isabel Lyon was ill.
November 17 Saturday – Roi Cooper Megrue wrote to Isabel Lyon enclosing Ernest Hendrie’s reply to Elisabeth Marbury’s Oct. 29 about dramatization rights for “The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg.” Lyon wrote on Megrue’s letter sometime after Nov. 17:
Katherine telephoned
M . Timory can have the right to dramatize The Interviewer M . Hendrie be may be right, but r M . Clemens doesn’t remember. wrote Mr. Hendrie—Mr.H needn’t be surprised that M . Clemens has forgotten, for he always forgets everything of that nature.
November 16 Friday – Isabel Lyon’s journal:
C.C. walks out of my room in her blue wrapper & says, “Damn the profession, I don’t like anything about it!”
Today I went downstairs in the afternoon. The King was playing billiards with AB. C.C. went to sing down in the bowery, & the King & I dined alone; later I played the Lohengrin Wedding March for him twice [MTP TS 147].
Chapters from “My Autobiography—VI” ran in the N.A.R. p.961-70.
November 15 Thursday – Isabel Lyon’s journal noted she was still ill [MTP TS 146].
J.G. Babb Secretary for University of Missouri wrote to Sam requesting his portrait, though it must be “approved by a committee competent to pass on its artistic merit” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “No answer – the terms of the letter being uncourteous to the verge of brutality.”
November 14 Wednesday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: “Ill on this day” [MTP TS 146].
Fanny Flint Conradson wrote from Franklin, Pa. to Sam. She, like many others, had read in the NY Herald of his bronchitis. She was a lifelong fan of his books since IA. Now she was a “twisted cripple” but owed much to his books for lightening her load.
November 13 Tuesday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote to daughter Jean , in Katonah, N.Y. “Jean dear, since I wrote the other day, conditions have not changed—at least for the better. They stopped me from playing billiards & I have been in bed ever since.” Sam then told of his “Stag dinner party” of Nov. 9, and of being tired on Nov. 10 from playing billiards until the wee hours, and of not going to Henry M. Alden’s dinner party celebrating his 70 . He was ordered to bed by Dr. Halsey. He finished with:
November 12 Monday – In N.Y.C. Isabel V. Lyon wrote to Harriet E. Whitmore.
The darling wonderful White King isn’t out of the house yet. It wasn’t a bad bronchitis, but it housed him well & on Saturday when Thomas Bailey Aldrich was here—(he came Friday & left Sunday) the King hopped around without many clothes on & so added to his bronchial condition which finished with heavy coughing again. But again he is better.
November 11 Sunday – Thomas Bailey Aldrich left 21 Fifth Ave. after a weekend stay with Twain. He [Lyon to H. Whitmore Nov. 12].
November 10 Saturday – Sam wrote of playing billiards until 1:15 a.m.: “I got but poor sleep afterwards & was pretty tired next day. I stayed home at night [Nov. 10] & did not go to the Alden feed. Those who went to it did not reach their beds until 4 a.m.—Howells & Paine included—but Aldrich got here at 2 a.m.” [Nov. 13 to Jean].
Isabel Lyon’s journal:
T.B. Aldrich is so disappointing in appearance & in qualities of all kinds that go to make up the literary man bearing a high reputation.
November 9 Friday – Thomas Bailey Aldrich arrived at 21 Fifth Ave. for a weekend stay with Twain. He left on Sunday, Nov. 11 [Lyon to H. Whitmore Nov. 12].