21 Fifth Ave - Day By Day

April 30 Thursday –  Frances Nunnally wrote from Baltimore to Sam.

April 4 Tuesday – Richard Watson Gilder for Century Magazine wrote to Sam.

April 4 Wednesday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote to Charles J. Langdon in Elmira.

“Was there a Mrs. Lee among the Quaker City’s passengers? I do not recal the name” [MTP]. Note: Mrs. S.G. Lee of Brooklyn was on the excursion [MTL 2: 387].

April 4 Thursday – Sam left Elmira and returned to N.Y.C. this evening. Isabel Lyon’s journal: “The King came home from Elmira tonight very tired and depressed, I think” [MTP TS 48].

Edith Elsie Baker for the Actors’ Fund of America wrote to Sam, asking for “a donation of a hundred or more copies of some short but effective speech, joke or epigram from Puddenhead Wilson or Huckleberry Finn printed on a card or parchment about 6 by 8 inches”—these from his publisher; they to sell them for 25 cents [MTP].

April 4 Saturday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: Bermuda: We went out to the Euryalus again to the children’s party this time—and it was a rough little voyage. 15 of us had to cramp-up in a tiny cabin and our stomachs felt badly. But we got inside the breakwater and onto the flagship and officers Gray and Boyer and Beatty showed us about and were very good to us and made the children adorably happy.

April 5 Wednesday – Sam read the MS of an article by Isaac Frederick Marcosson about H.H. Rogers for the World’s Work [Gribben 479: Lyon’s Journal, no TS given; Bowe 42]. Note: Sam “conferred” with Rogers on the article the next day, Apr. 6. He had acted as a go between for Frank N. Doubleday, publisher of World’s Work, and Rogers.

At 21 Fifth Ave. Isabel V. Lyon wrote for Sam to Robbins Battell Stoeckel.

Dear Sir: / According to D . Quintards advice M . Clemens directs me to send herewith his check for 200.00 as first payment for rent of Cottage in Norfolk, Conn.

April 5 Thursday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote to Alice Pearmain (Mrs. Sumner B. Pearmain).

April 5 Friday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam replied to Carl Kelsey’s Apr. 1.

My membership would be purely ornamental & therefore valueless. Have retired from the activities of life. I did not retire until I had been in the harness 40 years & concluded that I had done my share—that I have not retired in reality but I have all the work on my hands that I can attend to & that I mustn’t add any thing to it [MTP]. Note: Kelsey with Am. Academy of Political and Social Sciences.

April 5 Sunday – At the Princess Hotel in Hamilton, Bermuda Sam wrote to daughter Clara in N.Y.C.  

Clärchen dear, I hope you are entirely well & hearty by this time. I don’t know where you are, but you are drifting professionally around somewhere, I suppose—& hope.

April 6 Thursday – Sam conferred with H.H. Rogers about the MS of an article by journalist Isaac Frederick Marcosson about Rogers [Gribben 479: Lyon’s Journal, no TS given]. Note: Sam had read the MS on Apr. 5. He would discuss the article with Mocasson on Apr. 7. See Boewe.

April 6 Friday – In N.Y.C. Isabel V. Lyon wrote for Sam to Mary E. Bell: “When Mr. C. came home from the theatre he wrote this sentence hoping it might be made useful among her other testimonials Re—Mrs. Bell” [MTP]. Note: evidently Bell had performed on stage.

Sam also replied to John Greenall in Leeds, England who had written Mar. 27: 

April 6 Saturday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam inscribed an aphorism in a copy of JA to Helen Fulton: “To / Miss Helen Fulton / with the respectful salutations / of the Author. On the whole it is better to deserve honors & not have them, than to have them & not deserve them. / Truly Yours / Mark Twain/ New York, April 6/07.” [MTP].

Sam also inscribed a copy of CS to Mary Thacher Higginson: “To / Mrs. Thomas Wentworth Higginson / with the warm regards of / The Autho / April 6/07.” [MTP].

April 6 Monday – Bermuda. Mark Twain and Earl Grey met and talked to the children at the garrison school. Their comments appeared in the Apr. 19 NY Times. See Apr. 8 below for these.

April 7 Friday – Sam discussed the MS of an article by journalist Isaac Frederick Marcosson about H.H. Rogers [IVL #2 TS 12; Gribben 479]. Note: Sam read the article on Apr. 5 and spoke with Rogers on Apr. 6. The article ran in the May issue of World’s Work.

At 21 Fifth Ave. in N.Y.C. Isabel V. Lyon wrote for Sam to Robert Underwood Johnson.

“Mr. Clemens wishes me to say that he intends to be present at the conference which is called for Saturday April 22 at the Aldine Association. Mr. Clemens has delayed notifying you of his intention, owing to necessity” [MTP].

April 7 Saturday – Clara Clemens wrote to her father, the letter not extant but was quoted by Sam in his Apr. 10 letter to William Dean Howells and also in his reply to Clara [MTP]. See entries.

Sam was elected as the “annual guest” of Smith College’s New York Alumnae at a luncheon at the Hotel Astor. The New York Times, Apr. 8, p. 7, reported:

TWAIN AND SIR PURDON LAUD SMITH GRADUATES

April 7 Sunday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: Gabrilowitsch was here this evening and played for a long time—played that great Schubert Sonata.

Mr. Clemens and I went over to see Miss Harrison in Bklyn. She sent her mobile over for us and the trip was a long and dreary one; for we had to be stopped short at every corner by children who tried to get under the wheels. But Miss H’s home is very nice and her mother is sweet.

April 7 Tuesday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: Bermuda: The King and I went out to the reefs this morning in a kind of royal party, for Lord Gray the Governor General of Canada and Lady Gray and Mrs. (Bermuda Governor) Wodehouse went—and I did like it very much. Mostly it was quiet and restful. But I had a talk with Mrs. Wodehouse who turned to me at once when someone said of me “That is Mark Twain’s private secretary.” We got into the glass bottomed boats and were rowed out over the coral reefs.

April 8 Saturday – Sam’s letter (unsigned) to the editor (as from Satan), “A Humane Word from Satan” first appeared in Harper’s Weekly for Apr. 8, 1905. It was collected in The $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories (1906) [Budd, Collected 2: 1010]. Note: the letter poked again at the American Board of Foreign Missions for not accepting donations from John D. Rockefeller.

Sam inscribed in TS (Vol. 20 of the Hillcrest ed., daughter Clara’s copy), a maxim and a dated sketch about the cat Bambino. From Sotheby’s write up:

April 8 Sunday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam replied to a not-extant letter from daughter Clara, now convalescing at the Hotel Brighton in Atlantic City, N.J.  

April 8 Monday – Sam attended the Manhattan Club for a dinner honoring Charlemagne Tower, now Ambassador to Germany. The banquet was organized by Herman Ridder of the Staats-Zeitung. Several speeches were given, including one by Tower. The New York Times, Apr. 9, p.2, “Tariff Peace Near With The Kaiser” listed Samuel L. Clemens among the guests. On Apr. 10 Sam wrote a note, now judged to be to Tower, concerning a special correspondent for the Century, Robert Haven Schauffler, who was going to Germany.

April 8 Wednesday – The New York Times, Apr. 19, p. X4, “Mark Twain’s Outing in Bermuda” ran with three photos of Twain and Irene Gerken (not identified), Twain and H.H. Rogers, and one of Earl Grey and Lt. Gen. Wodehouse:

Mark Twain Tells About the Cat.

April 9 Sunday – At 21 Fifth Ave. in N.Y.C. Sam replied to Clesson S. Kenney’s Apr. 8.

I thank you very much for the Farlow circular.

The question you ask me is, “Are they getting so strong that they can dictate what an author may write?” Change the word “write” to publish, and the proper answer is—Yes—However, this has been the case for two or three years. / Very Truly Yours [MTP].

April 9 Monday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers. 

When you come by for me at 5 this afternoon won’t you please bring me 
1—$500-bank note;
4—100-  "  "
10—10-  "  "
& please ask Miss Harrison to draw this $1000 from my balance at the Guaranty Trust. / Yours ever 
Miss Lyon doesn’t know about this. SL. Clemens [MTHHR 604-5]. 
 

April 9 Tuesday – Minnie Maddern Fiske wrote from NYC to Sam.

April 9 Thursday – Bermuda. Either this day or the next, Sam lost his half of the seashell used to identify him to Margaret Blackmer (see May 25 to Blackmer). It was found by a servant in the mess hall at Prospect Army Garrison and handed to Major Malcolm D. Graham, who mailed it back to Sam in New York. See also May 25 to Graham.