March and after – Alice Jane Chandler Webster (“Jean”) (1876-1916), daughter of the late Charles Luther Webster, and Sam’s great-niece, wrote When Patty Went to College, which was published in Mar. 1903 (see Gribben p. 753). Sam referred to this book in one of the notes slipped into Livy’s sickroom which dates it somewhat. Here is the note:
There, now, my darling, Clara was here a while ago & says I be’aved ’an’some & was a cherub. Praise from Sir Hubert! [ a popular expression]
February – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam replied with one line to Frederick A. Duneka: “This is a most dam good Conclusion—put it in, Duneka / SLC” [MTP].
Prof. William Milligan Sloane wrote from NYC to Sam. “I want you here on March 5th at one o’clock to lunch with Sidney Lee and I want you very badly. Do come, there will be some of your best friends.” Hearing “conflicting accounts” of Livy, Prof. Sloane hoped she was no worse but much better [MTP].
January – The North American Review included the second installment of Mark Twain’s series, “Christian Science II” (p.1-9) written in 1897-8 in Vienna. The installments ran monthly From Dec. 1902 through the Apr. 1903 issue. A book would result from these articles, though Harpers would delay it till 1907.
December 3 Wednesday – Sam’s notebook: “Jean, Katy & I returned from the Elmira wedding” [NB 45 TS 34].
Note: Sam dared not travel alone with Jean due to her epilepsy, and so took Katy along, who had family in Elmira.
November 28 Friday – Sam’s notebook: “Train at 7.07. / 7.07 / Birth-day, dinner (not the 29th or 30th) Train leaves here at 7.07. / Wounds our conventions rather than our convictions. The convictions of one age are the conventions of the next” [NB 45 TS 34]. Note: evidently there had been some changes of the birthday dinner date; Sam entered a few things to say at the event in his Nov. 30 NB entry, and specified there it was to be the 29th; it wound up being this day. The 29th he was in Elmira at his niece’s wedding. The Nov. 30 entry:
October 24 Friday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote to John White Alexander to decline the same dinner that he declined to Chauncey Depew on Oct. 23 [MTP].
Sam also wrote to Samuel E. Moffett in Mt. Vernon, N.Y. “I am just leaving for Princeton, but stop to say she is getting along pretty well, but will be bedridden some months” [MTP].
October 15 Wednesday – The Clemens family and Sue Crane left York Harbor, Maine about 9 a.m. utilizing an “invalid car.” They rode to a point south of Boston, then on to N.Y.C., arriving at 5:40 p.m. 20 minutes more brought them by special engine to Riverdale, N.Y. at about 7 p.m. [Oct. 16 to Hutton; Oct. 16 Jean Clemens to Sewell; Oct. 19 to Crane]. Sam thought Livy arrived in “pretty good physical condition” [Oct 18 to MacAlister].
June 27 Friday – The Kanawha docked in York Harbor, Maine, and the Clemenses took possession of their cottage, “The Pines,” so named because it stood in pines. Sam sent a telegram to H.H. Rogers:
“Housed and home by noon a perfectly lovely voyage / SLC” [MTHHR 489].
Livy wrote to Susan Crane of the place.
June 26 Thursday – On board the Kanawha, en route from Riverdale, N.Y. to York Harbor, Maine Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers. The weather on the trip was perfect, but Jean caused Livy some sleepless nights: More of his above letter relating to this day:
June 25 Wednesday – The Kanawha and the Clemens family’s first stop on their way to York Harbor, Maine was Fairhaven, Mass. In his June 26 to Rogers Sam wrote of the trip from Riverdale to Fairhaven.