Day By Day Dates

July 17 Tuesday – Isabel Lyon’s journal (Dublin, N.H.):

Jean, 3:30

July 18 Wednesday – Sam was in NYC. Isabel Lyon’s journal (Dublin, N.H.):

What will this day bring?

The grass is down! It was so ripe, so ready, and willing, to be slain. (3 men have been working at it all the morning.) It began to be so tired; & when the scythe swept through it, it lay so still, as if glad and full of rest—like other deaths.

July 19 Thursday – Sam was in NYC. Isabel Lyon’s journal (Dublin, N.H.): “Today we climbed Monadnock—starting before nine o’clock we slowly wound our way up those mighty slopes. I cannot write of the wonder of the mountain—the wonder of the day. It was too great. It was a mighty stroke out of the great drama of eternity. Oh the great soul of that eternal mountain” [MTP TS 98-99].

July 20 Friday – John T. Lewis, hero of Elmira, died on the way to the hospital [Sue Crane to Sam July 23, 1906].

Sam was in NYC. Isabel Lyon’s journal (Dublin, N.H.): “Today we read Orion Clemens letters. Some of them written back in 1862. Mr. Paine is [many illegible cancelled words]. Oh, the wonder of life” [MTP TS 99].

July 21 Saturday – Sam was in NYC. Isabel Lyon’s journal (Dublin, N.H.): “These are such beautiful days. The mountain has brought life to me. Who could have thought within the month there could be an awakening such as mine—an awakening out of black poisoned misery into the meaning of the mountain & the meaning & sacredness of life, whether in solitude or not” [MTP TS 99].

July 22 Sunday – Sam was in NYC. He signed and inscribed a photograph of himself in his three-piece white suit in a rocking chair, to Mai Rogers (Mrs. William R. Coe): “A happy voyage to you dear Mrs. Coe & a speedy return! Sincerely yours, S.L. Clemens July 22, 1906.” On the back he wrote, “Shall I learn to be good? ….I will sit here & think it over” [Skinner Auctioneers Nov. 19, 2006, Sale 2341, Lot 27].  

July 23 Monday – Isabel Lyon’s journal (Dublin, N.H.): “Jean, 9.20 very severe, but cleared up well after” [MTP TS 100].

Susan Crane wrote to Sam, who included it in his A.D. of Aug. 11, 1906. She told of John T. Lewis’ dying requests and of his decline and death on July 20 [MTP].

July 24 Tuesday – Isabel Lyon’s journal (Dublin, N.H.): “Today we read Orion letters down under the apple tree in the field. It was very sweet down there. The Orion letters are monotonous—but they are not either [MTP TS 100].

July 25 Wednesday – Sam left Fairhaven, Mass. and arrived back in Dublin, N.H. [July 31 to Teller; IVL journal July 25].

Isabel Lyon’s journal: “Today the King came home. His hair is shorter than I have ever seen it, and he is a rejuvenated [sic] man. Yes—he is in a new world” [MTP TS 100].

Herbert Shearer for Farm, Field & Fireside (“The Great Farm Weekly”), Chicago, wrote to ask Sam if he would confirm a photograph they’d rec’d of his birthplace [MTP].

July 26 Thursday – Jean Clemens’ 26 birthday.

Isabel Lyon’s journal: “This morning Jean called Mr. Clemens an old sinner & he said, ‘Yes, Adam & I go out every Sunday morning with a basket & gather all the apples we can find!’” [MTP TS 100].

Donchian Brothers, Importers of Oriental rugs, NYC wrote to Sam with a quote of $381.50 for repairing the rugs from his Fifth Ave. house [MTP].

July 27 Friday – In Dublin, N.H. Sam wrote to daughter Clara in Norfolk, Conn.

It’s a darling lovely letter, you dear child, & not even Howells can surpass it for charm & grace & expression. I’m having typed copies made for Howells & Joe.

Poor Lewis is dead, & I am so glad he is set free from a world that has certain ungrateful imitation human beings in it.

July 28 Saturday – Isabel Lyon’s journal:

Jean, 10:45, violent. 6:40, long, violent. Petit mal all day.

The King is singing the Marseillaise in lusty tones as he is drawing a bath for himself. When the King sings very hard it means a perturbation of spirit; it means that something is not quite in key, it never stands for happiness.

July 30 Monday – In Dublin, N.H. Sam replied to the June 28 from Charles Orr, librarian, Case Library, Cleveland.

I cannot thank you enough for sending me copies of John Hay’s delicious notes to M . Gunn. In the matter of humor, what an unsurpassable touch John Hay had! I may have known Alexander r Gunn in those ancient days, but the name does not sound familiar to me.

July 31 Tuesday – George B. Harvey of Harpers arrived In Dublin and spent five days with Clemens,  choosing 100,000 words from the 250,000 of the Autobiography for publication in the North American Review. Harvey left on Aug. 4 [Aug. 3 to Clara]. Isabel Lyon’s journal: “Col. Harvey arrived late this evening at 9:45” [MTP TS 102].

Sam wrote to Charlotte Teller Johnson.

August – The first of two installments of “The Horse’s Tale” ran in Harper’s Monthly for August. The second ran in Sept. issue; it would be published by Harper’s as a 153 page book on Oct. 24, 1907.

Sam also wrote to H.H. Rogers: “Dear Mr. Rogers: I’m accepting…tell me if you can go & if it will pay you to go. S.L.C.” [MTP: Anderson Galleries catalog, 4-5 April 1934, No. 4098, Item 116].

August 1 Wednesday – William Dean Howells wrote from Kittery Point, Maine to Sam.

August 2 Thursday – Frederick W. Wile wrote from the Berlin Bureau of the Chicago Daily News:

August 3 Friday – In Dublin, N.H. Sam wrote to daughter Clara in Norfolk, Conn.  

August 4 Saturday – In Dublin, N.H. Sam wrote to Elizabeth Jordan, editor of Harper’s Bazaar, unable to be inspired to add to her collaborated story, his contribution being the boy character:

August 5 Sunday – In Dublin, N.H. Sam added a few lines to his Aug. 4 to Mary B. Rogers:

Sunday. / P.S.

No, gentle pal, return it to me, in the enclosed envelop. I will go over it again (aloud, this time, which is the only sure test), before I ship it to Harvey. (Don’t let any outsider see it, it is dangersome.) / SLC [MTP].

Sam also wrote to Joe Twichell.

August 6 Monday – In Dublin, N.H. Sam inscribed the first photo of himself in the series “Progress of a Moral Purpose” to daughter Jean: “To Jean Clemens / with the deep love of her / Father / Aug. ’06. / Truly Yours / Mark Twain” [MTP].

Sam also replied to the July 31 from Dr. Benjamin E. Smith of the Century Co., N.Y.

August 7 Tuesday – Isabel Lyon’s journal:

“Training is everything” he said, “The Gospel is right” & if he controls himself now, it is due to the training of his age, his old age. Such a sweet old age it is. Of course, he bursts out sometimes into savage blasphemies. It wouldn’t be he if he didn’t. Early this morning, before 7, I heard a big gutteral God damn from his room & then quietness. Later I learned he was mad at the green shade which had stuck & stuck [MTP TS 103-105]. Note: see the rest of the Aug. 7 entry at the end of Aug. 6.

August 8 Wednesday – In N.Y.C. H.H. Rogers replied to the Aug. 5 from Sam, confessing that the letter he was to copy and send to Twichell about the Virgin Mary being 47 and black had been sent along without copying due to the “disordered condition” of his desk on Monday night. Rogers disagreed with Sam on his conclusions about Mary’s age and color; he felt sure he’d get a reply from Twichell, which would be his “duty to send it to your address.” He related that George B.

August 9 Thursday – Sam wrote to Frank N. Doubleday about “What is Man?” and a proposed special binding for ten copies:

If I understand McClure’s tentative offer I know Harvey would not consider it. When he was here the other day he said he had told McC that the price offered must be a very stiff one. Thank you very cordially for the pains you have taken with the matter.

      Good. Now if Mr. Bothwell will keep that letter-form “standing” it will come in handy in case of future distributions.

August 10 Friday – Melvin L. Severy wrote from Arlington Heights, Mass. to ask if he might quote from Sam’s “King Leopold’s Soliloquy” for a publication he was preparing [MTP]. Note: The MTP catalogs Sam’s reply as “on or after 10 August.”

Clemens’ A.D. this day included: Clipping from Westminster Gazette, criticizing statement in “Diary of Eve” and calling it irreverent—Clemens replies to this—Calvin Higbie‘s MS— Clemens’s reply to him—Extract from Higbie’s essay [MTP: Autodict2].