December 28 Friday – Isabel Lyon’s journal:
“Puppy chew the soap.”
“Mr Clemens do you care to contribute to the Booth Memorial Fund?”
“No I don’t. I hate this idea of celebrities scratching each other’s backs & I don’t want anybody to be asked to contribute anything—for me!” [MTP TS 154-155].
December 28 Saturday – In his Dec. 29 to Nunnally, Sam wrote: “Yesterday I went with 70 other slaves of Harper & Brothers to Lakewood to lunch Mr. Howells out of the country & give him God-speed. The distance was greater than I was expecting it would be.” On Dec. 21 he had written to daughter Jean: “The Howellses sail for Europe Jan. 4; on the 2d all the Harper staff, to the number of 60, go down to Lakeville by special train & give him a send-off. Miss Lyon & Mr.
December 29 Thursday – Marion von Kendler wrote from Vienna, Austria to Sam, noting the old year had been a cruel one for him and wishing him better with healing of time in the new year [MTP].
December 29 Saturday – Isabel Lyon’s journal:
December 29 Sunday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote to Frances Nunnally; his letter informs of a short trip he took the day before, and of his dinner plans for this evening.
Ah, you dear Francesca, you & your mother gave me a pleasant surprise in that beautiful & valuable addition to my winter comforts, & I thank you cordially ; & I wish also to thank you, dear, for the fine album of Rembrandts. I am the better, bodily & spiritually, for these welcome remembrances.
December 3 or 10 Sunday – At 21 Fifth Ave., N.Y. Sam wrote to Andrew Carnegie.
“Dear St. Andrew: / I don’t know for sure that you got my telephone message the other day, but it doesn’t matter—I’m coming, the 18 anyway, with a nightshirt / Ys Ever / Mark ”[MTP]. Note: this letter # 08592 was found in the Fragments file and determined to be on a Sunday before Monday, Dec. 18, 1905, when Sam spoke for Russian Jews in NYC. No other year fits. Also, Carnegie inscribed his book for Clemens on Dec. 16. See entries.
December 3 Saturday – At 21 Fifth Ave. in N.Y.C. Sam wrote to Frederick A. Duneka. It may interest you to know that all of half of the letters I get concerning the Joan sketch are from Catholics; & are strongly (even fervently) complimentary, every time.
December 3 Sunday – Gribben cites the New York World’s article “Twain Calls Leopold Slayer of 15,000,000,” and speculates: “Twain probably drew on Suetonius when he mentioned Nero as a killer” [677]. Note: the interview is in Scharnhorst, p.528-31, and also online at the Univ. Washington site:
Twain Calls Leopold Slayer of 15,000,000 Besides Leopold, Nero, Caligula, Attila, Torquemada, Genghis Khan, and such killers of men are mere amateurs.
December 3 Monday – Clemens’ A.D. of this day included: Mesmerism continued—The Baron F. incident [MTP Autodict3; MTE 131-136].
Fanny E. Coe wrote from Jamaica Plain, Mass. to Sam. She was “preparing a series of reading books for publication” and wished to use the TS fence episode [MTP]. Note: “Ansd Dec. 6”
Major Leigh of Harper & Brothers wrote to Sam. “I beg to hand you herewith statement of your account for the year ending October 30 last. In doing so, permit me to present to you my congratulations” [MTP].
December 3 Tuesday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote to W.H. Powell, editor of the Hannibal Courier-Post.
December 30 Friday – Herbert Ashcroft of the Koy -Lo Co. wrote to Sam. “I am today in receipt of a cable from my brother stating that the London Plasmon Company will not make any contract and that they prefere to stand the ‘freeze out’ with which they are threatened. He also confirms …that he will return on the ‘Lucania’ arriving her probably Saturday morning, the 7th prox.” [MTP].
E. Prentiss Bailey of the Utica Observer (NY) wrote to Sam.
December 30 Sunday – Isabel Lyon’s journal:
December 30 Monday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote to Carlotta Welles.
Your letter has just arrived, & is a very pleasant & very welcome surprise; I thought you had forgotten me long ago. The xmas holidays have this high value: that they remind Forgetters of the Forgotten, & repair damaged relationships.
December 31 Saturday – Sam’s notebook: “The puppy & the Christian are born blind. The puppy gets over it” [NB 47 TS 17].
George Standring sent Sam a 3×4” card with his name nicely written in the center, and in the upper left corner, was printed:
“A PLAIN CARD: FROM A PLAIN MAN: WITH NEW YEAR GREETING; WISHING YOU ALL THE GOOD YOU CAN REASONABLY HOPE FOR OR DESIRE IN THE YEAR NOW ABOUT TO BEGIN—–FROM GEORGE STANDRING TO” [MTP].
December 31 Monday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote a postcard to Andrew Carnegie and Louise W. Carnegie. “Unto / Mrs. Carnegie / & St. Andrew / a happy New Year & repetitions of it.† Mark” [MTP].
Sam also wrote a postcard to Gertrude Natkin at 138 W. 98 N.Y.C.: “A happy New Year to you, dear Marjorie, & many repetitions of the like!” [MTP]. Note: see Feb. 20, 1907 for her delayed reply.
The New York Times, p.1, reported on the New Year’s Eve party thrown at his home for Clara Clemens.
December 31 Tuesday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote on a card picturing a woman in a hat to Maud W. Littleton: “Happy New year / to / Mrs Littleton / from / SL. Clemens” [MTP]. Note: Martin W. and Maud W. Littleton, across-the-street neighbors.
December 4, after – At 21 Fifth Ave. in N.Y.C. Sam wrote to Mr. Lee: “No, it’s lovely. I haven’t any suggestions to make” [MTP].
December 4 Tuesday – Isabel Lyon’s journal (in Hartford): “At twilight I walked through the beautiful rooms of this beautiful house & my heart torn into sobbing shreds by my homesickness for the King” [MTP TS 148]. Note: she likely toured the Farmington Ave. house.
December 4 Wednesday – William B. McGann, who was President of the American Plasmon Co. to Apr. 30, 1906, wrote a salary claim to Sam, now acting President and Vice-President. The letter is not extant but is referred to in a New York Times article of Dec. 21, 1907, p. 6, (below). Shortly after Dec. 4, Sam replied to McGann, his letter reprinted in the Dec. 21 article:
MARK TWAIN CONCERN GIVES UP THE GHOST
Plasmon Company of America Unable to Meet Obligations and Receiver is Named.
December 5 Tuesday – In New York City Sam wrote a short note to Helen Keller:
It is a lovely letter, dear Helen, & I thank you from my heart for it Remain an optimist just as long as you can, dear! I would not abridge the term by a single day. But as for me—ah, that is different! Do please give my love to Mr. & Mrs. Macy. / Always affectionately…[MTP: Cushman file]. Note: John Albert Macy (1877-1932), author, critic, poet.Isabel