December 8 Saturday – L.J. Bridgman’s article, “To Mark Twain,” ran in Harper’s Weekly. Tenney: “Source: Listed in The Twainian, II (March, 1940), 3 as ‘poem illustrated by author’; a search of this issue was unsuccessful, and the citation appears to be incorrect” [32]
December 7 Friday – At 1410 W. 10th in N.Y.C., Sam replied to Christian B. Tauchnitz.
Indeed I will do you that “great favor” with very great pleasure, and shall hold those books in high regard as a remembrancer of the pleasant relations which have subsisted unbroken between us this long stretch of years [MTP: TS Curt Otto, Verlag Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1912, p.126]. Note:Tauchnitz’ incoming not extant. See entries in Vol. I & II.
December 6 Thursday – Sam’s notebook: “St. Nicholas Society, Dinner Delmonico’s.(?)7 p.m.” [NB 43 TS 30].
December 5 Wednesday – At 1410 W. 10th in N.Y.C., Sam wrote to John Y. MacAlister. After some delay caused by registering the letter, Sam got MacAlister’s letter on Dec. 4, referred to in a cable, and then cabled his approval.
December 4 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook: “Plasmon to Hutton. / Aldine Club—evening—no reporters. W.W. Ellsworth. / Traveling with a corpse” [NB 43 TS 30]. Note: indeed there were reporters at the Aldine Club this evening. The NY Times reported on the dinner and Sam’s speech on Dec. 15: Mark Twain at the Aldine Club
December 3 Monday – At 1410 W. 10th in N.Y.C., Sam wrote to Augustus T. Gurlitz (1843-1928), New York attorney representing Rudyard Kipling.
I thank you quite immeasurably for the Kipling set, & you must send for the Fenno lot whenever you need it, for I doubt if I get a chance in six months to study the matter….
If you didn’t get Howells to make an affidavit, he must do it. Everybody should help [MTP].
December 2 Sunday – Sam’s notebook: “Dinner—Mrs. Kate Douglas Riggs” [NB 43 TS 30].
December 1 Saturday – Sam’s notebook: “Dinner 730 Mrs. De Forest / 7 Washington Sq. / Meet Artist Zorn & wife” [NB 43 TS 30]. Note: source indicates Livy made this entry. Anders Zorn (1860-1920) Swedish painter, sculptor, and printmaker, became internationally famous. His wife, Emma Amalia Zorn (born Lamm; 1860-1942).
December – At 1410 W. 10th in N.Y.C., Sam wrote to Eduard Pötzl in Vienna that he could not “write articles for anybody but Harper’s Magazine—it’s a contract.” Sam conveyed that they thought of and spoke of him often and sent Christmas greetings [MTP].
Clara Clemens wrote of her father’s new status as a sought-after sage on almost any topic and life in the 10th Street house:
November 30 Friday – Sam’s 65th Birthday.
At 1410 W. 10th in N.Y.C. Sam wrote a postcard to Richard Watson Gilder, editor of Century Magazine: “I am laid up, but some time when you drop in I will tell you what Harpers said” [MTP].
Sam also wrote to an unidentified woman, likely a neighbor, who complained about noisy boys gathering on his front steps.