Day by Day entries are from Mark Twain, Day By Day, four volumes of books compiled by David Fears and made available on-line by the Center for Mark Twain Studies.  The entries presented here are from conversions of the PDFs provided by the Center for Mark Twain Studies and are subject to the vagaries of that process.    The PDFs, themselves, have problems with formatting and some difficulties with indexing for searching.  These are the inevitable problems resulting from converting a printed book into PDFs.  Consequently, what is provided here are copies of copies.  

I have made attempts at providing a time-line for Twain's Geography and have been dissatisfied with the results.  Fears' work provides a comprehensive solution to that problem.  Each entry from the books is titled with the full date of the entry, solving a major problem I have with the On-line site - what year is the entry for.  The entries are certainly not perfect reproductions from Fears' books, however.  Converting PDFs to text frequently results in characters, and sometimes entire sections of text,  relocating.  In the later case I have tried to amend the problem where it occurs but more often than not the relocated characters are simply omitted.  Also, I cannot vouch for the paragraph structure.  Correcting these problems would require access to the printed copies of Fears' books.  Alas, but this is beyond my reach.

This page allows the reader to search for entries based on a range of dates.  The entries are also accessible from each of the primary sections (Epochs, Episodes and Chapters) of Twain's Geography.  

Entry Date (field_entry_date)

February 13, 1906 Tuesday

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February 13 Tuesday – At 21 Fifth Ave., N.Y. Sam wrote to thank an unidentified person for “the newspaper slip & for your pleasant words” [MTP].

Clemens’ A.D.   for this day: Susy’s Biography continued—Cadet of Temperance—First meeting of Mr. Clemens and Miss Langdon—Miss Olivia Langdon an invalid—Dr. Newton [AMT 1: 354-359].

February 15, 1906 Thursday

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February 15 Thursday – At 21 Fifth Ave., N.Y. Sam wrote to George B. Harvey.

Dear Uncle George: / I greet your 70 birthday with gratitude & enthusiasm, & with cordial wishes that there may be many happy returns of it. And next time, don’t swindle me out of my share in it, but invite me in time. I think it’s a cruelty & a shame that I can’t be there. With love to all the Trinity, … [MTP]. Note: Sam’s humor: Harvey was b. Feb. 16, 1864, making him but 42 years old.

February 16, 1906 Friday

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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.

February 17, 1906 Saturday

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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 18, 1906 Sunday

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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 20, 1906 Tuesday

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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 21, 1906 Wednesday

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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 24, 1906 Saturday

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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 26, 1906 Monday

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February 26 Monday – A telegram (not extant) came to Clemens from Hartford, announcing the death of Patrick McAleer [IVL TS 23]. Note: This was likely sent by Twichell. See IVL’s Feb. 27 entry.

Sam wrote to Joe Twichell: “Shall reach Hartford about two thirty today to attend Patrick’s funeral Wednesday. I desire to be a pall bearer” [MTP]. Note: likely this was a telegram. Also included in IVL’s TS 23.  

February 27, 1906 Tuesday

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February 27 Tuesday – Sam went to Hartford; Katy Leary also went [Feb. 26 to Twichell; IVL below and Feb. 28].

Isabel Lyon’s journal:

Yesterday [Feb. 26] came a telegram from Hartford announcing Patrick’s death & when I told Mr. Clemens he was deeply moved. He was sitting in the Gladstone chair [see insert Gladstone chair] in the living room & after a moment he said “I must go to the funeral.” So this morning he went.

February 28, 1906 Wednesday

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February 28 Wednesday –  In Hartford Sam was a pall-bearer at Patrick McAleer’s funeral.

William Dean Howells wrote from Atlantic City, N.J. to Sam.

No praise that I ever had for work of my own gave me such entire and perfect joy as your praise of Pilla’s poem. Of course your letter has gone straight to her, and she will know how to prize the words which are simply without price.

March 1906

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March – Sam inscribed a copy of TS with an aphorism: “Let us save the to-morrows for work, Truly Yours Mark Twain, Mch/06” [MTP: City Book Auction catalogs 26 May 1945, Item 119].

Charles E. Dana wrote for the Contemporary Club in Phila. to invite Sam to their 20 anniversary dinner. They had chosen “American Humor” as the subject. Miss Agnes Repplier, (1855-1950) Philadelphia essayist known for her scholarship and humor, would give an address on the subject [MTP].

March 1, 1906 Thursday

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March 1 Thursday – In Hartford, Sam luncheoned with friends assembled by Charles Hopkins Clark [Feb. 26 to Clark; ca. Mar. 10 to Clark]. F. Kaplan puts this at the Hartford Club and includes Joe Twichell [631]. Note: Clark wrote on Mar. 9 suggesting they split the bill for the lunch; Sam agreed.

March 2, 1906 Friday

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March 2 Friday – Clara Clemens returned to Atlantic City; she would make another NY trip on Mar 13 to audition [Hill 122].

At 21 Fifth Ave., N.Y. Sam wrote to Gertrude Natkin in N.Y.C., whom he now referred to as “Marjorie.”

Marjorie dear, Mr. [Charles F.] Powlison has sent tickets—which is very well; it simplifies things.

The house is made up of men, you see. Certainly this is a new kind of matinèe.

March 3, 1906 Saturday

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March 3 Saturday – At 21 Fifth Ave., N.Y. Sam wrote to Homer Croy, editor of the Missouri University’s yearbook the Savitar. Croy had sent Sam a copy of the 1905 yearbook which announced a proposal to dedicate the 1906 edition to Mark Twain. See insert 1906 Savitar.

March 4, 1906 Sunday

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March 4 Sunday – At about 4 p.m. Sam spoke at the Majestic Theatre for the West Side Branch of the YMCA. Gertrude Natkin and her mother were in the audience. The New York Times, Mar. 5 p. 2, recorded the wild crush at the doors and also Sam’s speech.  

POLICE HUSTLE CROWD AWAITING MARK TWAIN

Bungle at the Majestic Theatre Angers Y. M. C. A. Men.

WOULDN’T OPEN THE DOORS
——— ——— ———
Mr. Clemens Gives Some Advice About the Treatment of Corporations and Talks About Gentlemen.

March 5, 1906 Monday

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March 5 Monday – At 21 Fifth Ave., N.Y. Sam wrote to Alice M. Ditson (Mrs. Charles H. Ditson).

I am glad to have that speech; it has moved me, & also modified me, in some degree. I don’t feel the same passionate appetite for your dog that I felt that evening; & it is probably because I have just had my breakfast. I can’t really depend on my reforms; they are so likely to be inspirational & temporary; therefore for my sake & the dog’s, I think it will be better that one of us keep out of the way [MTP].

March 7, 1906 Wednesday

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March 7 Wednesday – At 21 Fifth Ave., N.Y. Isabel V. Lyon wrote for Sam to Robert K. Mackey, who was seeking autographs for his son’s set of Mark Twain books. Lyon wrote that if Mackey would leave the first volume Mr. Clemens would autograph it for him [MTP].

Sam also wrote to John F. Tremain of the Chemung County Society who had written on Dec. 9 conferring upon Mark Twain honorary membership in their society and inviting him to dine with them on Mar. 29. Sam thanked him for both but declined to attend due to other engagements [MTP].