May 3 Friday – In  London Whitelaw Reid sent a momentous cable to Sam in care of Harper & Brothers, N.Y. It was received in New York at 2:40 p.m.

“OXFORD UNIVERSITY WOULD CONFER DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF LETTERS ON YOU ON JUNE 26 BUT PERSONAL PRESENCE NECESSARY CABLE ME WHETHER YOU CAN COME” [MTFWE 4]. Note: in his May 23 A.D. Sam reflected on the cablegram and his acceptance “without any waste of time.” See MTFWE p.4-5 for the full text. Insert Cable: [Baetzhold 243].

Sam then cabled Reid and also wrote a note. His cable:

May 4 Saturday – Sam moved into the William Voss house in Tuxedo Park, N.Y. [Hill 166]; his lease had begun on May 1. He gave a talk or a reading at a tea for the Tuxedo Club in his honor. He had forecasted the event in his Apr. 22 to Jean. Fatout lists the talk but gives no particulars [MT Speaking 676]. Note: see May 5 NYT article. Lyon’s entry below reveals the tea was held at Mrs. Harry Rogers’ house in Tuxedo.

May 5 Sunday – The NY Times included a telegram supposedly sent on May 4 by Sam to Milton Goodkind in a spoof article about Sam being lost at sea:

MARK TWAIN INVESTIGATING,

———

And If the Report That He’s Lost at Sea is So, He’ll Let the Public Know.

May 6 Monday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote to Mary B. Rogers (Mrs. H.H. Rogers, Jr.) who had sent a note [not extant] with Harry Rogers.

To the Shah-in-Shah of Nieces— / Greeting & salutation:

May 7 Tuesday – Sam wrote daughter Jean on May 14 after his return from Annapolis that he spent “the 7 to meet engagements.” He did not specify; no more is known.  

Clemens gave Isabel Lyon power of attorney to sign checks for him [Hill 222]. The Lyon- Ashcroft MS contains the full text of this document, as follows:

May 8 Wednesday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam sent a cable to C.F. Moberly Bell, editor of the London Times: “I PERCEIVE YOUR HAND IN IT YOU HAVE MY BEST THANKS SAIL IN MINNEAPOLIS JUNE 8 DUE IN SOUTHAMPTON DAYS LATER. / CLEMENS” [MTP].

May 9 Thursday – At 9 a.m. [May 14 to Jean] Sam and Isabel Lyon took a train for Baltimore, Maryland, where he would be a guest of Governor Edwin Warfield (1848-1920) and deliver a benefit lecture in Annapolis. Warfield had been mentioned as a future presidential candidate. It had been in Sam’s plans at least since Apr. 22, when he wrote of it to Jean. Though she did not know him, Emma Warfield (Mrs. Edwin Warfield), a member of the First Presbyterian Church, had written asking Mark Twain to speak for a church benefit.

May 10 Friday – Annapolis: On the morning of May 10 Sam toured the Naval Academy, something he’d looked forward to. He was joined by three young ladies: Miss Carrie Warfield, and Miss Margaret Warfield, the Governor’s daughter, and niece, respectively; and Mary Foxley Tilghman, daughter of the Secretary of State. The group heard the Naval Academy Band concert and afterward visited the commanding officer. The Superintendent, Admiral James H. Sands (1845-1911), was ill so they called on Capt. George P.

May 11 Saturday – Though Sam’s stay was planned for five days, including a tour of the bay on a special steamer, and a possible visit Sunday to the First Presbyterian Church, but Sam and Isabel Lyon cut it short, leaving this morning, and escorted as far as Baltimore by Governor Warfield [Nolan & Tomlinson 4, 6-7].  

Isabel Lyon’s journal: “Home again, the King to Tuxedo, I to No. 21” [MTP TS 56].

May 12 Sunday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: “Busy with Santa, sleep and packing in the afternoon” [MTP TS 56].

May 13 Monday – Sam addressed a letter from Tuxedo Park N.Y. “(Summer residence)” to Harry Windsor Dearborn.

As I have not heard from you I am taking it for granted that Mr. Vanderbilt, on behalf of the [Fulton] Monument Association, has invited Mr. Cleveland already, or will invite him as soon as he gets back from Europe July 1.

And so I have today, by letter, invited Mr. & Mrs. Cleveland to be my guests in the Kanawha; I invite but one other guest.

May 14 Tuesday – In Tuxedo Park, N.Y. Sam wrote to daughter Jean in Katonah, N.Y., relating his stops since May. In part: (see prior references to this letter for text excised here).  

Oh, you dear Jean, it shan’t happen again. The next time I go to see you I shall select the train that will give me the longest time with you. Your letter has been lying here some 7 days—but I haven’t been here.

May 15 Wednesday – In Tuxedo Park, N.Y. Sam replied to the May 9 from Galveston, Texas Judge and poet John A. Kirlicks (1852-1923):

May 16 Thursday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: “C.C. came and finds it charming” [MTP TS 57].

Frances F. Cleveland (Mrs. Grover Cleveland) wrote from Princeton to Sam.

May 17 Friday – Harry Windsor Dearborn, Asst. Secretary of The Robert Fulton Monument Assoc. wrote to thank Sam for “a pleasant afternoon” and gave more information on the Sept. 23 Jamestown Expo. [MTP].

John Mead Howells wrote to Sam with bills by Harry A. Lounsbury, dated Apr. 27, May 4 and May 11, totaling $297.37 for the use of men and teams in the construction of the Redding house [MTP].

May 18 Saturday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: “C.C. returned to N.Y. and AB arrived, much talk” [MTP TS 57].

Harper’s Weekly ran a full page photo of Mark Twain in his white suit, with the caption, “Clothes and the Man” [Tenney: “A Reference Guide First Annual Supplement,” American Literary Realism, Autumn 1977 p. 334].

May 19 Sunday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: “Much talk, tea down at the club. Oh, so stupid” [MTP TS 57].

May 20 Monday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: King and I went to town on the 11:50. AB left earlier on the 8:30. King and I lunched at The Brevoort, lamb stew and beer, and such a good luncheon he found it. He dined at a David Munro Dinner at the Players for Col. Harvey who sails for England on Wednesday. In the afternoon we ran around to Martiging’s Studio to see the model for the Fulton Memorial. It is beautiful [MTP TS 57-58].

Charlotte Teller Johnson wrote on “The Broztell” stationery, NYC to Sam. In part:

May 21 Tuesday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: Today the King went to see Jean, making a day of it and came home weary at 7 o’clock. He had a talk with Dr. Sharp who said that only physicians know that the present Czar is an epileptic; people would pity him more if they knew of his terrible malady [MTP TS 58].

May 22 Wednesday – Fatout lists a dinner speech in honor of George B. Harvey, Sam’s publisher. No particulars are given and none were found, neither did Lyon mention it in her journal entry below [676].

Isabel Lyon’s journal: Today the King went to Tuxedo and I stayed on because Santa needed a chaperon and I needed to do a lot of extra things.

May 23 Thursday – In Tuxedo Park, N.Y. Sam sent two telegrams to George Thomson Wilson, Secretary of the Pilgrim Club, N.Y. branch that he would be glad to be the guest of the London Pilgrims for lunch any date between June 18 and June 28; his second note asked Wilson to cable the London Pilgrims to pin the luncheon date to either June 21 or 22, and cable Sam their acceptance [MTP].

May 24 Friday – Tuxedo, N.Y.: Isabel Lyon’s journal: The King was glad to have me come home again, and said he had not been able to fraternize with his food because it isn’t pleasant to eat alone.

May 25 Saturday – In Tuxedo Park, N.Y. Sam drafted a telegram to George Thomson Wilson, Secretary of the Pilgrim Club, N.Y. branch: “Please cable Secretary Brittain for me 25 suits me exactly” [MTP].

May 26 Sunday – In Tuxedo Park, N.Y. Sam replied to daughter Jean, whose incoming is not extant.  

It saddened me, too, dearest Jean, to go away from you, & it has saddened me since to think about it. But I hope this is the last far journey I shall ever have to take. And indeed I would not take this one if I could avoid it.

May 27 Monday – In Tuxedo Park, N.Y. Sam wrote to Marjorie Bowen (pseud. for Gabrielle Margaret Vere Long) giving his London address, Brown’s Hotel.  

“I shall be in England 10 days—June 18–28—& I think you will have to do as the American girls do: waive youth, sex, & the other conventions, & call on me. Yes, & telephone me when you are coming: otherwise we shall fail to collide, for I shall be a very busy person” [MTP: Cyril Clemens, Mark Twain: The Letter Writer, 1932 p.130].