September 30, 1905 Saturday
September 30 Saturday – In Dublin, N.H. Sam wrote to Frederick A. Duneka of Harper & Bros.
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October 1905
October – Sam sent an aphorism to an unknown person: “Taking the pledge will not make bad liquor good, but it will improve it.” [MTP].
Current Literature published a photograph (no credit given) of Mark Twain, facing p. 353 [Tenney: “A Reference Guide Third Annual Supplement,” American Literary Realism, Autumn 1979 p. 190].
Sam inscribed his copy of Roman Society from Nero to Marcus Aurelius, by Sir Samuel Dill (1844-1924): “SL. Clemens / October 1905” [Gribben 193]. -
October 1, 1905 Sunday
October 1 Sunday – In Dublin, N.H. Sam began a letter (that he finished Oct. 3) to daughter Clara, in care of Katy Leary in N.Y.C.. -
October 2, 1905 Monday
October 2 Monday – In Dublin, N.H. Sam wrote to Frederick A. Duneka of Harper’s.
I have just finished a short story which I “greatly admire,” & so will you—“A Horse’s Tale”— about 15,000 words, at a rough guess. It has good fun in it, & several characters, & is lively. I shall finish revising & re-revising it & re-revising it in a few days or more, then Jean will type
Don’t you think you can get it into the Jan. & Feb. numbers & issue it as a dollar booklet just after the middle of Jan when you issue the Feb. number? -
October 3, 1905 Tuesday
October 3 Tuesday – In Dublin, N.H. Sam finished his Oct. 1 to daughter Clara. -
October 4, 1905 Wednesday
October 4 Wednesday – In Dublin, N.H. Sam wrote to daughter Clara, c/o Miss Gordon, 117 W. 69th NYC. Only the envelope survives [MTP]. -
October 5, 1905 Thursday
October 5 Thursday – In Dublin, N.H. Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers.
At 3 p.m. to-day I finished the fifth & last revising of “A Horse’s Tale” & am going to bed & stay there 2 weeks, for I am a free person once more. I have worked like a slave, from morning till—well, all day,—for I don’t know how many consecutive days [He began Sept. 23], & have enjoyed it ever so much—thoroughly, in fact—but I’m as tired as a dog. -
October 6, 1905 Friday
October 6 Friday – In Dublin, N.H. Sam wrote to daughter Clara, soon to be at 21 Fifth Ave., N.Y., where Sam addressed the letter:
Why, you little rat, somebody had to be blamed, so I selected [Dr. Edward] Quintard in place of myself. I was thinking of having him hanged, but for your sake I will let him off, for the present.
So you have got at the “real cause” of your ill turn, & it was a doctor. I could have told you that much. It’s an awful trade for a Christian. -
October 7, 1905 Saturday
October 7 Saturday – In Dublin, N.H. Sam wrote a long letter to Frederick A. Duneka about “A Horse’s Tale.” Proofs sent to me here before October 17 or to 21 Fifth Avenue, after November 3, will get immediate attention…I’ve made a poor guess as to the number of words. I think there must be 20,000. My usual page of MS. Contains about 130 words; but when I am deeply interested in my work and dead to everything else, my hand-write shrinks and shrinks until there’s a great deal more than 130 on a page…this tale is written in that small hand. -
October 8, 1905 Sunday
October 8 Sunday – R.H. Wilson wrote from Brooklyn, NY to Sam, asking about JA—was it “true history,” and if so, why was it written under the name Luis DeConte? [MTP].
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October 9, 1905 Monday
October 9 Monday – In Dublin, N.H. Sam wrote two letters to Frederick A. Duneka of Harper’s.
The easiest way for me to furnish the details you ask for . . . is handy for you too; for you can at your pleasure talk the details to any journalist that come to you or print my letter on slips & hand them to as many of the boys as will accept . . .
…As to other matters here are the details.
Yes, I have tried a number of summer homes, here & in Europe together.
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October 10, 1905 Tuesday
October 10 Tuesday – Isabel Lyon’s journal:
Today Mr. Clemens and Jean lunched with the Catlins—but before Mr. Clemens went away I played all his favorites on the Aeolion, and the Largo I played four times. The Aeolion is going away today and the voice—one of the voices of Dublin will go too. This wonderful summer is sighing so gently away. It has been the Queen of all my summers. Today Mr. Clemens said that as a masseur refreshes the body, so the Aeolion is his spiritual massage—it soothes and rests him. -
October 11, 1905 Wednesday
October 11 Wednesday – In Dublin, N.H. Sam wrote to daughter Clara in N.Y.C.
Clara, you little rascal, sometimes I have regretted that we took a house so far down, but how lucky it was! It would too bad for you to have to travel from the Central Park region clear down to 12th street. I am very glad we have the Musical Institute at our elbow. I hope you are at home by this time, snug & comfortable & happy./ With great love & a kiss / Father [MTP].
Sam also wrote to Muriel M. Pears in Scotland. -
October 12, 1905 Thursday
October 12 Thursday – In Dublin, N.H. Sam wrote to George B. Harvey. -
October 13, 1905 Friday
October 13 Friday – United Cigar Stores Co. in the Flatiron building, N.Y.C. wrote asking for permission to use Sam’s letter endorsing the La Tunita cigars. On or just after this day Isabel V. Lyon responded for Sam: “Mr. Clemens would like to do so—but the request comes so frequently that he has had to decline them all” [MTP].
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October 14, 1905 Saturday
October 14 Saturday – Thomas S. Barbour, of the Congo Reform Assoc., Boston, wrote to Sam, asking for a “few minutes at your place of entertainment” the following week when Sam planned to be in Boston [MTP]. Notes: MTP gives “on or after 14 October” for Lyon’s response for Sam. Oct. 14 is reasonable for a post to reach Dublin from Boston. The response: “Perhaps it would be better to call up Mr. Clemens at Pearmains address private”. Sumner Bass Pearmain and Alice Whittemore Upton Pearmain were active in Boston society, educational and social work. -
October 15, 1905 Sunday
October 15 Sunday – In Dublin, N.H. Sam wrote to daughter Clara at 21 Fifth Ave., N.Y.
Dublin, Sunday,9.30 & 10.30 a.m. -
October 16, 1905 Monday
October 16 Monday – Isabel V. Lyon wrote for Sam to Ambrose Lee, acknowledging his letter of Oct. 13. Lyon’s response is not extant but is referred to in Lee’s Oct. 18 to Sam [MTP].
Clemens also wrote to the Congo Reform Assoc. in Boston, the letter not extant but referred to in Tyler’s Oct. 17 reply.
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October 17, 1905 Tuesday
October 17 Tuesday – In Dublin, N.H. Sam wrote to John Y. MacAlister in London about the passing of Henry Irving: “All our people mourn him. He earned their love & esteem at his first coming & never lost it. He was endeared to me by a warm friendship of thirty-three years” [MTP]. Note: Sam also ordered a wreath sent to Irving’s funeral [Clara’s enclosure in Oct. 19 to MacAlister].
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October 18, 1905 Wednesday
October 18 Wednesday – In Dublin, N.H. Sam wrote to daughter Clara at 21 Fifth Ave., N.Y. -
October 19, 1905 Thursday
October 19 Thursday – In Dublin, N.H. Sam wrote to John Y. MacAlister. Sam enclosed two letters, he’d received from Katy Leary (Oct. 18) and a partial letter from daughter Clara.
It was most kind & thoughtful of you, & if Clara were here she would thank you, as I do—as you will see by the scrap from her letter enclosed. When your first telegram came I had already telegraphed Col. Harvey & Howells to send cables & include me. That is why I did not send a sentiment until you asked for it. -
October 20, 1905 Friday
October 20 Friday – In Dublin, N.H. Sam wrote to daughter Clara.
Clarchen dear, I wish to learn to make the right & just allowance for Jean, & to try to keep constantly in mind that she is heavily afflicted by that unearned, undeserved & hellish disease, & is not strictly responsible for her disposition & her acts when she is under its influence (if there is ever a time when she is really free from its influence—which is doubtful). She has had 2 attacks to-day.
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October 21, 1905 Saturday
October 21 Saturday – As planned (see Oct. 15 and Oct. 20 to Clara; Oct. 19 to MacAlister), Sam went to stay with the Pearmain’s Back Bay, 388 Bacon St., Boston. He was telegraphed there on Oct. 25 by Miller Reese Hutchinson [MTP].