Day By Day Dates

June, mid – Sometime before June 19, the Hearst Newspaper Syndicate asked Sam to write several dispatches covering Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee Celebration. The initial dispatch was datelined London, June 19. See entry. Likely the agent of the request was the London correspondent of the NY Journal (Hearst’s second newspaper after the S.F.

June 15 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook: “Sent Chatto MS down to & including page 1024—little Ceylon boy with a twine string for clothes. / Shall deliver Bliss duplicate of above, concluding with 14th package & page 405” [NB 41 TS 31].

The Hartford Courant, p.1 “Mark Twain, ‘Innocent’,” reported:

June 16 Wednesday – H.H. Rogers cabled Sam about the NY Herald’s fund to help Mark Twain:

“All friends think Herald movement mistake withdraw graciously Langdon approves this / Rogers” [MTHHR 282].

At 23 Tedworth Square in London Sam replied to H.H. Rogers’ cable:

June 17 Thursday – The Hartford Courant ran an article on p.6, “Mark Twain,” from the Hartford Times.

June 18 Friday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam replied to Helen Skrine’s invitation (not extant) that with her “kind leave” he would “come Wednesday June 30th—7.30” He thanked Helen for inviting Clara but “she feels her bereavement still so heavily that I am not able to persuade her” [MTP].

June 19 Saturday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam wrote to James Gordon Bennett, Jr., who was heading up a NY Herald division in Paris, which published the Paris Herald, heading the letter concerning the Herald’s relief fund for Mark Twain, “Personal.”

June 20 Sunday – Sam’s notebook : “June 20. Wrote Douglas Garth, 8 Rawlinson Road, Oxford, that the tax collector had threatened to take some of the furniture & sell it, & asked him to protect us” [NB 41 TS 32].

Douglas Garth, owner of 23 Tedworth Square in London, replied by telegram to Sam’s telegram: “Just received telegram from my wife on your letter this morning am sending cheque for taxes” [MTP].

June 21 Monday – Percy Mitchell , in Paris, telegrammed: (“not aware anything had been cabled”); and wrote to Sam that James Gordon Bennett, Jr. had not returned from Paris, so Mitchell telegraphed Bennett a summary of “our conversation” Was there anything else Mitchell could do? [MTP]. Note—this about Sam trying to get the Herald fund canceled.

June 22 Tuesday – In London Sam attended the grand procession of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. Paine writes of the date and of Sam’s accounts to the Hearst Syndicate:

June 23 Wednesday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers.

June 24 Thursday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam wrote to James Gordon Bennett, Jr. in Paris, France, thinking that his letter of June 19 failed to reach him (he learned on June 25 that it had not; see letter that day to H.H. Rogers). Sam repeated his request to “close the subscription list” made for his relief [MTP].

June 25 Friday – Percy Mitchell in the Paris, France office of the NY Herald, sent a telegram to Sam, which he mentioned in the following letter to Rogers: “Mr. Bennett says he has not received any letter from you if important will you not kindly repeat it to him as he says glad to do anything” [MTP]. Note: James Gordon Bennett, Jr., of the Herald.

June 26 Saturday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam wrote a postcard to Chatto & Windus: “Please send for some more MS.—say 10 or 11 Monday.” Sam wanted them to send the entire typewritten lot of pages to H.H. Rogers [MTP].

June 27 Sunday – Henry Irving wrote to Sam, asking if he “had nothing better to do tomorrow evening it would be a delight if you could look in at the Lyceum” [MTP]. Note: no further evidence was found but no decline was either. Noting Twain’s regard for Irving, the likelihood is he did “look in.”

June 28 Monday – Sam likely stopped in the Lyceum Theatre in London to see Henry Irving [June 27 invite].

Sam’s notebook: “will send to Chatto parts 15-16-17-18 & 19 to be mailed home & the same in my MS to be kept for himself” [NB 41 TS 32].

June 29 Tuesday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam wrote to Douglas Garth, either owner or property manager of the family’s rental flat. An extension beyond July 1 had evidently been requested and granted by Garth:

June 30 Wednesday – Sam’s notebook: “Dinner, (7.30?) Skrine, Queen Anne’s Mansions Wednesday, 30th” [NB 41 TS 32]. Note: Sam confirmed Skrine dinner, but for July 1, back on June 26; the date was then changed.

From the Brooklyn Eagle, p. 6, an editorial response to Mark Twain refusing charity efforts to pay his indebtedness:

Mark Twain.

July – Place unknown (but likely London): Sam sent aphorisms to Henry P. Child:

Universal brotherhood is the most precious thing we have, what there is of it.— Puddnhead Wilson’s New Calendar.

To succeed in the other trades, knowledge must be shown; in the law, the concealment of it will do.— Puddnhead Wilson’s New Calendar. / Truly Yours / Mark Twain / (S.L. Clemens) / July, 1897 [MTP]. Note: Ancestry.com in the U.K. has one record for Henry P. Child, b. ca. 1824 in Yorkshire.

July 1 Thursday – Andrew Chatto and Sam “ripped out a raft of reprint matter from the Australian part of the book” (FE) feeling it improved the book and wasn’t needed [July 2 to Bliss].

The Hartford Courant, July 3, 1897: “Theatrical Gossip – Gillette Gives a Supper” p.3. The article did not report that Sam spoke at the supper. The dinner was noted in his notebook but no mention of a talk or speech given; if he did his words have been lost:

July 2 Friday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam wrote to Frank E. Bliss, enclosing a photo “mentioned in the last chapter of the book.” Sam advised that he and Andrew Chatto had removed material from FE the day before. “Chatto promised to write you, so that you can leave it out, too, if you like.” After his signature Sam wrote they would leave for the Continent on July 8 [MTP]. Note: delays pushed departure to July 13.

July 3 Saturday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam replied to Florence Hayward, London foreign correspondent, whom he had turned down on Jan. 29 for an interview. Her request is not extant.

“Perhaps I could be interviewed a little—just a little—for the St. Louis Republic, but not for an English paper, because I have declined them all, including the Pall Mall, & must not stultify myself now.”

July 4 Sunday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam wrote to Chatto & Windus, advising that they were leaving England “early in the morning the 9th ,” and asking if their “inventory man” would come on July 6. He also asked for the company messenger to pick up the rest of the finished (typed) manuscript, “both the original, for you, & the typed copy” he wished to be sent to H.H. Rogers, 26 Broadway, N.Y.C [MTP].

July 5 Monday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam wrote to an unidentified man that due to their change of plans there was no available time, so forgive him [MTP].

July 6 Tuesday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam telegraphed to James B. Pond “Make it 9 tomorrow” [MTP]. Note: In his July 7 to Moffett, Sam wrote, “Yesterday [July 6] I arranged with Pond to go home & lecture all the fall & winter—provided your aunt Livy should consent.” This makes it likely that Pond and Sam exchanged more communiqués and did not meet at 9 a.m. on July 7, but sometime on this day, July 6.

July 7 Wednesday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam wrote to Andrew Carnegie, thanking him for “that great contribution which you made to the Herald fund.” He explained that since he wasn’t disabled, Livy wouldn’t allow him to accept any money, but he thanked him “all the same. It was like you: You always back your friendships.”