Day By Day Dates

November 15 Monday — In Redding, Conn. Albert B. Paine wrote for Sam to prof. Archibald Henderson at Univ. N. Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Dear Professor Henderson, / Your article in the Deutsch'e Revue pleases Mr. Clemens very much indeed, and with his favorable opinion all in this house concur. Miss Jean Clemens who is very proficient in the German, is especially delighted with your facility in that language.
Very sincerely yours, / Albert Bigelow Paine [MTP].

November 17 Wednesday — In Redding, Conn, Sam wrote to Margery H. Clinton in Toronto, Canada, enclosing her envelope sent on Nov. 15.

Dear Plumber: / Then we’ll postpone until your return.

To-day I have been condemned by the doctor to go away for two or three weeks—I  can’t stand the idea! Still, it can’t be helped, I suppose. I haven’t been in quite satisfactory shape for several months, /

Affectionately Yours / ... [MTP].

November 18 Thursday — In Redding, Conn. Albert B, Paine wrote for Sam to the American Civic Alliance, 507 5" ave. N.Y.C. Paine requested that Clemens wished to withdraw his membership in the Alliance [MTP].

Sam also wrote to Margaret Blackmer.

November 19 Friday — In Redding, Conn. Sam sent a telegram to Joseph B. Gilder, c/o The Century.

I am very sorry as should have gladly been an honorary Pall Bearer, but am going to Bermuda tomorrow in obedience to the “Doctors” orders. Jean Joins me in deepest sympathy with Mrs. Gilder. S. L. Clemens [MTP].

William McKay Laffan of the New York Sun died during surgery. Paine writes about receiving the news and meeting Sam at the train. See Nov. 20 entry.

November 20 Saturday — Sam met Albert Bigelow Paine at the train station in N.Y.C. to board the Bermudian for the voyage to Bermuda. In Robert Underwood Johnson’s Remembered Yesterdays, p.133, we find the following, which denotes that he had time to go to the funeral for Richard Watson Gilder: “As Mark Twain entered the Church of the Ascension at the funeral service, he said to a friend, ‘I wish that I were that man lying in there’.” Note: Paine in MTB does not mention Sam attending the funeral.

November 21 Sunday — Clemens and Albert Bigelow Paine were aboard the Bermudian en route to Hamilton, Bermuda. The ship encountered rough seas and Paine suffered from seasickness [D. Hoffman 135]. Note: I have not come across one instance where Clemens ever suffered from seasickness.

November 22 Monday — The Bermudian arrived in the islands on a rainy day. They took rooms at the Hamilton Hotel. D. Hoffman writes:

November 23 Tuesday — Sam and Paine Stayed at the Hamilton Hotel for the first three days of their visit, which D, Hoffman cites from Marion Allen’s diary as unexpected [135]. Paine writes of their activities the day after their arrival:

November 24 Wednesday — The last of three days’ stay at the Hamilton Hotel. Sam kept their rooms there but stayed mostly with the Allens at Bay House [Nov. 26 to Clara]. On Dec. 6, however, he wrote daughter Jean that the Allens wouldn’t let him stay at the hotel so he gave up his room, Likely Paine kept his room.

November 25 Thursday — Thanksgiving Day — In Hamilton, Bermuda Sam joined the Allen family at Bay House for Thanksgiving dinner. He enjoyed it so much there that he stayed with them for the remainder of his Bermuda visit [D. Hoffman 135].

November 26 Friday — In Hamilton Bermuda Sam wrote to daughter Clara.

Clärchen dear, I do hope Jean & the house are getting along well, for I don’t feel a bit like leaving this peaceful refuge. If I could be sure of Jean & the house’s happiness I wouldn’t sail from here till the 18th of December.

November 30 Tuesday — Sam’s 74th and last Birthday. Paine writes of the day and his gift:

On the morning of his seventy-fourth birthday he was looking wonderfully well after a night of sound sleep, his face full of color and freshness, his eyes bright and keen and full of good-humor. I presented him with a pair of cuff-buttons silver-enameled with the Bermuda lily, and I thought he seemed pleased with them.

December — Sam’s article, “Marjorie Fleming, the Wonder-Child,” ran in the Dec. issue of Harper’s Bazar [Hill 250].

Sam signed his copy of A Dash at the Pole (1909) by William Lyon Phelps: “SL Clemens from / Wm Lyn Phelps / Dec 1909” [Gribben 542].

Paine writes of Sam quoting Oliver Wendell Holmes’ poem, “The Last Leaf”:

One evening he spoke of those who had written but one immortal thing and stopped there. He mentioned “Ben Bolt”.

December 4 Saturday — John Bigelow wrote from Grammercy Park, NYC to Sam. “I hope you will pardon the liberty I have ventured to take with your name, in a note to the Chamber of Commerce which you will find on the 324 page of a pamphlet which I send you under another enclosure... Yours truly...” [MTP].

December 6 Monday — In Hamilton Bermuda Sam replied to a non-extant letter from daughter Clara.

December 7 Tuesday — Clemens was in Bermuda. He took daily scenic rides after school hours [Dec. 14 to Nunnally]. D. Hoffman quotes from Helen Schuyler Allen’s diary about Sam’s daily routine:

December 8 Wednesday — Sam took daily scenic rides after school hours [Dec. 14 to Nunnally].

December 9 Thursday — Sam took daily scenic rides after school hours [Dec. 14 to Nunnally].

December 10 Friday - The New York Times, p. 11, “Bazaar For Sick Nurses,” announced that Samuel L. Clemens would be in charge of “the raffling of an automobile.” Sam, however, was in Bermuda and would not return for the event.

December 11 Saturday — Hill records the final folding of the American Plasmon Co.

Ashcroft, who retained his position in the company, told [Charles T.] Lark that the foundering organization would sink unless Clemens provided additional funds, a suggestion that was sensibly declined. Finally, by December 11, 1909, while Clemens was in Bermuda.

December 12 Sunday — D. Hoffman writes, “Nearly every Sunday [in Bermuda] he went to Prospect for the military band concerts. Once he had become a friend of the bandmaster, the entire program might consist of pieces Clemens suggested” [139].

Miss Angela Morgan wrote from Woodstock, NY to Sam, enclosing a page from the December number of Collier’s and which bore her poem, “God’s Man,” which Sam had given “interest and assistance” to her. She thanked him and considered herself “forever indebted” [MTP].

December 13 Monday — In Hamilton, Bermuda Sam inscribed an aphorism in a copy of PW to Bernand Walker. “Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker may be sorry.—Page 77. Truly Yours, Mark Twain. With kindest regards to Mr. Bermand Walker. Bermuda, Dec. 13, 1909” [MTP: Parke- Bernet catalog, 4 May 1938, No. 38, Item 90].

December 14 Tuesday — In Hamilton, Bermuda Sam wrote to Frances Nunnally in Atlanta.

Francesca dear, I received your last just before I left home, & was glad to see you were carrying on as joyously & as turbulently as ever I hope there has been no abatement, & that there won’t be any while you are young.

December 17 Friday — In Hamilton, Bermuda Sam wrote a Bermuda postcard to Elizabeth Wallace. “Merry Christmas / & affectionate greeting / to Betsy / SLC / Blanche has been close-clipped & looks elegant—even spiritual” [MTP). Note: Maude was the donkey used in the earlier visit; Blanche may have been another.

December 18 Saturday — Clemens and Albert Bigelow Paine sailed on the Bermudian bound for New York. In his Dec. 19 to Marion Schuyler Allen (Mrs. William H, Allen) Sam wrote, “We plunged into heavy seas before the waving handkerchiefs & the flag were an hour out of sight...”.

December 18-20 Monday — On board the Bermudian Sam wrote to Helen Schuyler Allen in Hamilton, Bermuda.