21 Fifth Ave - Day By Day

December 11 Sunday – William B. Throop wrote from Aurora, Ill. to Sam, asking where he might find the old story of a man who went to Washington to collect money due on a beef contract [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote “ ‘Roughing It,’ I think,” at the top.

December 11 Monday – At 21 Fifth Ave., N.Y. Sam wrote to Marjorie V.d.W. Brooke. “I am quite sure, Miss Brooke, that if I had seen that photograph in a shop window I should have supposed it was a picture of myself, so marked is the resemblance” [MTP: eBay item #30366463].

Sam sent another Dec. 6 form letter for the occasion of his 70th to Will Larrymore Smedley. Sam added no comment [MTP].

In N.Y.C. Isabel Lyon wrote for Sam to Dihdwo Twe.

December 11 Tuesday – Sam sat for photographer Frances Benjamin Johnston (1864-1952) in her Washington, D.C. studio. He wore his white suit [Madsen 53]. Note: Johnston was a well-established professional who had photographed some of America’s prominent figures, including Theodore Roosevelt, Susan B. Anthony, Booker T. Washington, Andrew Carnegie, John Philip Sousa and others; She was the first official White House photographer. See p. 54 or print LC-J601-1305 or 1305A on Library of Congress website.

December 11 Wednesday – Isabel Lyon wrote to John A. Kirlicks: “Mr Clemens asks me to write for him & thank you very much for your pleasant letter & the poem & the little pamphlet. He wishes me also to say that such messages as yours are always welcome” [Gribben 384]. Note: Gribben cites from a letter of 7 June 1977 from Kevin B. Mac Donnell, who he says “speculates” that the publication referred to was I’ve Got the Blues Tonight & Other Troubles (1896) by Kirlicks. See other entries on Kirlicks.

December 11-24 Tuesday – Sometime during this period at 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y., Sam wrote to Ignace J. Paderewski (Ignacy Jan Paderewski; 1860-1941), Polish pianist and composer, later Prime Minister of Poland.

December 12 Monday – Hal W. Greer, attorney in Beaumont, Texas, wrote to Sam, thanking him for “The $30,000 Bequest” in Harper’s Weekly, Christmas edition [MTP].

I.M. Horsfall wrote from London to Sam, having just read his article Joan of Arc in the Dec.Harper’s. He enclosed a sonnet on Joan by his blind daughter [MTP].

December 12 Wednesday – Sam returned to New York, and 21 Fifth Ave. [NY Times – above].

Isabel Lyon’s journal: “This afternoon I went out to do an errand & on my return I found the King had arrived. He seemed sweeter & mellower than ever before. He can go away from me, but I shall not go away from him again unless he sends me” [MTP TS 149].

December 12 Thursday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote to the Plasmon Co..of America to tender his resignation as Vice-President and Director of the Plasmon Co. of America [MTP].

Clemens’ A.D. for this day included: Andrew Carnegie continued — he gives two additional millions to Carnegie Institute—Everybody likes attentions—Prince of Wales once showed Mr. Clemens a match-box and told him it was presented to him by King of Spain [MTP: Autdict. 4].  

December 13 Tuesday – Ralph W. Ashcroft wrote “Due back Jan. 6th S.S. Lucania” on a postcard picturing Trafalgar Square, London [MTP].

R. Howard Krause and Mrs., in Kidderminster, England, sent a Christmas card to Sam [MTP].

December 13 Thursday – Clemens’ A.D. of this day included: As regards the coming American Monarchy [MTP Autodict3].

Isabel Lyon’s journal:

This morning when I told the King apropos of AB’s friends that there was one of them that he didn’t like & that it was Stedman, he said, “Oh, no, I only despise him, I don’t dislike him.”

AB is going to live here in the house to be the King’s billiard player.

Strength is flowing back into my veins & I am glad to be alive.

December 13 Friday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote to Champ Clark (James Beauchamp Clark):

I thank you ever so much for your kind offer, but I want to get an extension on it until some later day—indefinitely later—so that I may finish a dialogue which I began last September, & which I may not take up again for a good while.

December 14 Thursday – Sam sent another Dec. 6 form letter for the occasion of Sam’s 70   to Thomas Bailey Aldrich and Lilian W. Aldrich, now at their summer home, “Redfarm,” in Ponkapog, Mass. Sam added: “Apparently I am never going to get a chance to add a line, so I will just give it up till a later day &—God Almighty bless you both! / SLC / Dec. 14.” [MTP]. 

In N.Y.C. Isabel V. Lyon finished her Dec. 11 to Raffaello Stiattesi. 

December 14 Friday – C.B. Fleet, druggist, Lynchburg, Va. wrote a humorous anecdote prefaced by the tale that Sam once told of a chairman of a lecture committee, complimenting him on “Heathen Chinee,” one of Bret Harte’s poems. It seems just after a play of Col. Sellers there, a man thought to be intelligent said about the play, “if you’ve seen one Shakespeare play, you’ve seen them all” [MTP].

December 14 Saturday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam replied to the Dec. 12 telegram from Frank Cavendish Lascelles, by sending one of his own to: Pageant office, Savoy, London: “Best wishes for the greast London pageant it will be the event of the year” [MTP].

Eustace D. Conway finished his Dec. 7 letter to Sam [MTP].

December 15 Thursday – In Keokuk, Iowa Edward F. Brownell wrote to Isabel Lyon to clarify if the Dec. allowance for Tabitha “Puss” Quarles (Greening) was to be increased to $25 or if the $15 was to be added to her allowance [MTP].

December 15 Friday – At 21 Fifth Ave., N.Y. Sam wrote a short note to Robert Bacon. “Dear Mr. Bacon: / I am expecting to send you the full report (in French) & an elaborate digest of it (English). By mail or by the hand of a delegation of our Association” [MTP].

Sam also sent a Dec. 6 form letter for the occasion of his 70 birthday to John D. Rhodes, US Court of Claims, Washington, D.C. Sam added: “Alas, they have shut Huck & Tom out from the youth’s department of the Brooklyn Blind Asylum library!” [MTP]. Note: postmarked this

December 15 Saturday –  Harper’s Weekly published Mark Twain’s letter to Henry Mills Alden to observe Alden’s 70 birthday. The letter was written sometime between Oct. 22 and Nov. 10, 1906.

December 15 Sunday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: Prof. Sloane and his daughter Margaret (debutante) came in today for tea. The talk ran onto Washington and the political rottenness of the place. “No man can be himself there.” Mr. S. said. “Mr. Cleveland alone shook his fist in the faces of the corrupt politicians and made himself hated.

December 16 Friday – Sam wrote to Andrew M. Clute, NY attorney, requesting that the canceled contracts for the sale of the Tarrytown house be returned to William Evarts Benjamin, Sam’s friend and attorney who had handled the sale. This letter is not extant but referred to in the following from Clute:

December 16 Saturday – Sam conferred sometime this day with actress Sarah Bernhardt, who was scheduled to appear at the Casino Theatre on Dec. 18 in a benefit for Jewish victims in Russia (see Dec. 14 insert advertisement) [Dec. 17 inscription in JA]. Sam showed initial interest in offering a few words for the event in his Dec. 13 response to the Shuberts. His meeting with Bernhardt likely involved his attendance and address for the following afternoon’s benefit. It was a cause that found Clemens’ sympathies.

December 16 Sunday – Mr. and Mrs. Edwin R. Ray wrote, from Tacoma,Wash. to express thanks for HF—their two “fine boys” are always “instantly delighted” by having it read to them [MTP].

December 16 Monday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: “And this day?” [MTP TS 120].

Hélène Elisabeth Picard wrote a long letter in a tiny hand.

My dear Chief Servant, / A hearty wish for a blessed Christmas to you and your family, and for many happy returns of the day is leaving my desk to start westward in the direction of your home. May those terrific tempests and angry winds allow my wishes to find your door in time, that you might know your French Member has also thought of you.

December 17 Saturday – At 21 Fifth Ave. in N.Y.C. Sam wrote an autograph for Avery (not further identified): “To Avery—with kind remembrances of / Mark Twain / Dec. 1904” [MTP: Smith, Perline & Co. catalogs, Apr. 7, 1995, Item 782].

Ralph W. Ashcroft wrote to Sam [MTP]. UCCL 39141 letter is not currently available.

George W. Reeves wrote to Sam. “The copies of contract enclosed I will ask you not to sign until Mr. Benjamin has approved of them…If satisfactory, I will call with duplicates with Mr. Gardiner’s signature” [MTP].