January 21, 1906 Sunday

scott 19 August 2022

January 21 Sunday – Isabel Lyon’s journal:

Mr. Clemens got into the big grey mobile with Mr. Clinton at 12 o’clock and away they went for luncheon. The day is very lovely—just the sort for motoring, for we’re having a warm wave, too warm but good for motoring.

January 20, 1906 Saturday

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January 20 Saturday – Julia Delafield Longfellow wrote from N.Y.C. inviting Sam to dine with them “informally” and meet “a political friend, Colonel Flood” on Friday, Jan. 26 at 8 p.m. Sam answered on or just after Jan. 20:

“Look upon it as peculiarly uncommon [?] & uncalled for [one or two words illegible] of ill luck that I am obliged to be in Wash on that date” [MTP].

Just about everything Mark Twain did appeared in the New York newspapers. The Times and the Herald of Jan. 21 were among those which reported on his paying a tax for “fun”:

January 19, 1906 Friday

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January 19 Friday – Joe Twichell wrote to Sam.

I declare that the deeps penetrated and explored in much research as this of radium more affect me with the sense of sublimity than those discovered by the telescope. Really this would be an admirable sort of an universe if it wasn’t for the Human Race. Yet it’s the Human Race that has captured the knowledge both of the Light Year and of Radio-activity. Perhaps it will amount to something eventually. / Yrs Aff. / Joe [MTP].

January 18, 1906 Thursday

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January 18 Thursday – Sam was a pallbearer for John Malone, actor, who died on Jan. 15. The funeral took place at the Church of St. Francis Xavier on W. 16 Street. Requiem mass was celebrated by the Rev. Father Van Rensselaer. A large group from The Players attended. Other pall bearers were: Barton Hill, Daniel Frohman, J.H. Benrimo, Jacob Wendell, Jr., T.J. Hallowell, Charles Harvey Genung, and David A. Munro [NY Times, Jan. 19, 1906, p. 11, “Funeral of Actor John Malone”]. See also Nov. 16, 1898 to Malone.

January 17, 1905 Wednesday

scott 19 August 2022
January 17 Wednesday – Sam attended a meeting to form an association for a 1907 centennial of Robert Fulton’s Claremont. The New York Times, Jan. 18, p. 8, “For a Monument to Fulton” reported the presence of Mark Twain. On Feb. 18, the Times, under the same heading, reported Samuel L. Clemens as an “incorporator”and printed his letter of acceptance to the committee:

Mr. Clemens, in accepting membership on the committee, wrote the following letter:

January 16, 1906 Tuesday

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January 16 Tuesday – Mark Twain attended a big automobile show at Madison Square Garden, and of course the New York Times of Jan. 16, p. 8 covered the show and his appearance:

MARK TWAIN AT THE SHOW.
———
Laments That He Cannot Dictate as Fast as Motor Salesmen Talk.

January 15, 1906 Monday

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January 15 Monday – Isabel Lyon’s journal:

Today when I asked Mr. Clemens why mens’ voices singing in the street at night sound so heartbreakingly sad? Or away out in the country, when you are wakened by the sound of a man singing a common place song in a common place voice, why does that make you aware of all the misery of the world? Mr. Clemens replied, “The man is probably dead drunk, but that doesn’t lessen your heartache.”

January 14, 1906 Sunday

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January 14 Sunday – The New York Times, p.9 “What is Doing in Society”: “Mr. and Mrs. Cleveland H. Dodge have invitations out for a dinner for Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain,) on Friday next,” or Jan. 19. Note: Cleveland Hoadley Dodge (1860-1926), philanthropist active in NY politics, was the grandson of William E. Dodge, Jr. (1832-1903) Clemens’ neighbor in Riverside. See Aug. 13, 1903 entry.

Isabel Lyon’s journal:

January 13, 1906 Saturday

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January 13 Saturday – At 21 Fifth Ave., N.Y. Sam wrote instructions to Isabel Lyon for John Larkin: “Ask Larkin to appoint next Saturday for the tax office & make it $5,000. I want to write it up” [MTP]. Note: Larkin characterized Larkin as “my friend and attorney.”

January 12, 1906 Friday

scott 19 August 2022
January 12 Friday – Fred Nye of the Sunday N.Y. World wrote asking if Sam would write for their “humorous campaign in favor of the most down-trodden and abused person in the United States—Father.” On or just after this was received Sam answered: “I think it unlikely that the Harpers would approve, but even if they did I have no intention of writing a miscellaneous article on any body.”
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