February 24–28 Wednesday – At 21 Fifth Ave., N.Y. Sam replied to the editor of the Saturday Evening Post that his contract with Harpers “doesn’t allow it. Besides, very busy with regular work” [MTP].
February 24 Saturday – At 21 Fifth Ave., N.Y. Sam wrote to Frederick A. Duneka. “Saturday. Many thanks. The books have come. I am fully equipped for the voyage now. SL. Clemens” [MTP]. Note: since Sam was not planning any voyage, the reference may be rhetorical.
February 23 Friday – Isabel Lyon’s journal:
February 22 Thursday – Isabel Lyon’s journal:
February 21 Wednesday – At 21 Fifth Ave., N.Y. Sam added a PS to his Feb. 20 to Gertrude Natkin:
Mr. Powlison has been here, & he is a charming man. Of course he persuaded me. The date is March 4, 3.30 p.m., at the Majestic Theatre. You & your mother will be shown to the box, as per the order which I sent you, & you will find Miss Lyon & her mother there. Mr. P. has to provide a clergyman to furnish respectability, & I will take care of the rest of the show myself.
February 20 Tuesday – At 21 Fifth Ave. Sam directed Isabel Lyon to write to William McCutchan Morrison, Congo missionary, in Lexington, Va.: “I thank him very much for his letter, and I hope that the agitation of the Congo question will bear fruit. I think the promise looks good in England” [MTP].
Clemens’ A.D. for this day: About Rear-Admiral Charles Wilkes–And meeting Anson Burlingame in Honolulu [AMT 1: 367-369].
February 19 Monday – Govinier C. Hall for the Knife & Fork Club in Kansas City, Mo. wrote to Sam [MTP]. Note: the social club was formed on Nov.
February 18 Sunday – At 21 Fifth Ave., N.Y. Sam wrote verse to an unidentified person. A draft survives:
For your love has the power of the fabled purse
That wrought charms in the old romaunt
Who had it might live in a shack or worse
And feed on dreams & air dew & verse
Yet never could he know want [MTP].
Sam also wrote to daughter Clara in Atlantic City, N.J. referring to the President’s daughter, Clara’s illness and other matters.
February 17 Saturday – At 21 Fifth Ave., N.Y. Sam sent his autograph on a small card to an unidentified person [MTP #10492].
Isabel Lyon’s journal: “Today Mr. Clemens said that ‘Poultney Bigelow’s father is trying to pin him to a square mile of this earth. Trying to have him settle on the old Bigelow estate for the summer. It’s somewhere up on the Hudson’” [MTP TS 31-32].
February 16 Friday – Sam gave a speech as the honorary head of The Ends of the Earth Club at the Savoy Hotel. The New York Times reported on p.9:
ENDS OF EARTHERS FOREGATHER HERE AGAIN
And Astonish Mark Twain with Some Very Brief Reports.
——— ——— ———
HE AND OTHERS REMINISCE
The Author Tells How He Filled Cooper Union 39 Years Ago—150 Globe Trotters at Dinner.
Subscribe to
© 2026 Twain's Geography, All rights reserved.