September 16 Friday – With Mr. and Mrs. H.H. Rogers, Sam left New York on the Kanawha for Fairhaven, Mass. to “help dedicate that church” (Unitarian Memorial Church), that Rogers built and dedicated to his mother. Sam would return on Sept. 22 [Oct. 23 to Crane; NY Times, Sept. 20, p.1 (below) ]. Ralph W. Ashcroft wrote to Sam. “As I’m to be in jail before sun down (so Wheeler says) I’ve written out my defence to his & Hammond’s charge & enclose it herewith. / Try to digest and assimilate it before Wednesday” [MTP].

September 15 Thursday – Sam, who was staying at the Hotel Wolcott in New York, accompanied by Ralph W. Ashcroft, went to see John Hays Hammond at his hotel, but discovered he was in Gloucester, Mass. Sam then sent the following telegram to Hammond:

NEW YORK, Sept. 15, 1904.

JOHN HAYS HAMMOND:

September 14 Wednesday – Sam met Mr. & Mrs. H.H. Rogers at the pier as they disembarked from the Oceanic from Liverpool. The New York Times, Sept. 15, p.6, reported Rogers’ homecoming:

H. H. ROGERS HOME AGAIN. –––

Has Been Busy Having a Good Time—Mark Twain Meets Him.

September 12 Monday – Carlo Paladini, journalist, wrote from Italy to Sam, hoping he was remembered, and asking for an American flag for his cottage, as he was unable to get one there; in exchange he would send “the best Chianti wine of our beloved Tuscany.” He also asked if the autobiography Sam wrote in Florence would be published, and asked after Sam’s “nice, beloved, bright daughters,” recalling Clara’s “voice of nightgale” [MTP].

September 11 Sunday – In N.Y.C. Sam replied on a banquet invitation sent by Melville Elijah Stone for the Associated Press. “Dear Mr. Stone: It is so long since I was at a banquet, that I probably shan’t know how to behave—still, I shall be there.” Sam added a request after his signature to please keep his “hotel address secret” [MTP]. Note: strangely the enclosed card was for a Sept. 22 banquet at the Claypool Hotel in Indianapolis, Ind. Sam did not travel to Indiana on that date, so the card was likely used for another event.

September 10 Saturday – In N.Y.C. Sam wrote to Franklin G. Whitmore: “Where is the carved oak mantelpiece that stood in our library? Is it stored in Hartford?”[MTP].

September 9 Friday – At the Hotel Wolcott In N.Y.C. Sam wrote to Susan Crane.

Susy dear, the first time I ever heard “In the Sweet By and Bye,” a street-organ played it near the St. Nicholas in December 1867; & that was the first time I ever saw Livy Langdon, a sweet young slender girl & beautiful. In our engagement-year some of us often sang it, evenings, along with other songs. Present:

• Father, †
• Mother, †
• Yourself,
• Theodore, †
• Mr. Slee, †
• Hattie Lewis,
• Livy Langdon †

How many are gone!

September 7 Wednesday – Clara Clemens left N.Y.C. to spend a month or so resting in Connecticut. Sam described this in his Sept. 9 to Susan Crane:

I saw Clara off, day before yesterday, to a rest-cure in Connecticut. She is to shut up 4 or 5 weeks, in bed, without books, without companionship, writing no letters, reading no letters, seeing no one but physician & nurse—a horrid solitude, with grief and memory for company [MTP].

September 6 Tuesday – Sam wrote an aphorism to an unidentified person: “We ought not to use our morals week-days, it gets them out of repair for Sunday / Truly Yours / Mark Twain.” Underneath this Clara Clemens offered her own aphorism: “He who finds the serpent loses himself” [MTP: Lion Hart Autographs 2007 NYC Bookfairs]

September 5 Monday – Odoardo Luchini wrote to Sam, letter not extant but referred to in Sam’s Sept. 22 reply.