April 1 Thursday — Sam was in New York, having spent the night at the home of H.H. Rogers. A 3 p.m. he caught the steamer Jefferson for Norfolk, Va. to attend a banquet honoring H.H. Rogers for opening a new railroad there [Mar, 28 to Nunnally]. The New York Times, p.1, Apr. 2, 1909 reported their departure:
H.H. ROGERS OFF TO VIRGINIA.
Mark Twain and Others Accompany Him to the Opening of His Railway.
April 1 Friday
April 1 ca. — In Hamilton, Bermuda Sam wrote to Joe Goodman: “Come on and visit me once before we get so old we can’t hear each other swear” [MTP: San Francisco Examiner, 22 Apt. 1910 ].
April 10 Saturday — In Redding, Conn., Isabel V. Lyon wrote for Sam to Frederick T. Leigh.
“Tell the Major to bring out the Stormfield book at a dollar & we'll see if what he says is true, Nobody’s word is worth a damn anyway, & now we'll have figures to prove it,”’
Dear Major Leigh:
April 10 Sunday — In Bermuda, Sam continued reading Jude the Obscure, by Thomas Hardy [ibid.]
April 11 Monday — In Bermuda, Sam finished reading Jude the Obscure, by Thomas Hardy [ibid.]
Robert J. Collier sent a telegram to Sam: “Will have motor meet you Thursday morning hope you are feeling better Sallie sends love / Collier”’ [MTP].
April 12 Monday — In Redding, Conn. Sam wrote to Frederick A. Duneka.
Dear Duneka: /PAGE 31 OF VOL I, “Letters of James Russell Lowell.”
That page is what I want, (to read at a banquet to Jerome May 7.) Tear it out & send it to me. It is part of a letter to E. L. Godkin (1869), & is just what I want as a text, in case I should wish to get up & talk. / Ys ever
/ Mark [MTP].
Sam’s new guestbook:
April 12 Tuesday — Sam left Bermuda bound for New York.
April 13 Tuesday — In the evening Sam attended daughter Clara’s concert at Mendelssohn Hall, NYC. The New York Times, Apr. 14, p.11, gave her performance mixed reviews, as did other city papers. One unnamed paper follows the Times report:
MISS CLARA CLEMENS SINGS.
Mark Twain’s Daughter Heard at Recital with Miss Littlehales.
April 14 Wednesday — Sam spent part of the day in NYC; likely he spent the night of Apr. 13 with the H.H. Rogers family. He recorded a talk with Ashcroft that took place on this day:
April 14 Thursday — Sam arrived back in New York aboard the Oceana. The New York Times, p. 6, Apr. 15, reported his feeble health:
MARK TWAIN BACK IN FEEBLE HEALTH
Distinguished Author Returns from Bermuda in Weakened State from Heart Trouble.
CARRIED OFF THE STEAMER
Physicians Meet Him and He is Taken Immediately to His Home at Redding, Conn.
April 15. Thursday — Sam noted in his after Sept. 25, 1909 letter that on this day, “The Lioness abolished.” In his L-A MS “‘letter to Howells” he gave particulars:
On the 15 I gave Miss Lyon a month’s notice—sent it to her room by a maid. In the forenoon. Claude [Benchotte] (butler) arrived at noon. In the afternoon Miss Lyon sent me her reply by a maid. She had been married about a month, but was still called by her unwedded name, & she was still using it herself, & so it came natural to her to sign the present note in that way.
April 15 Friday — The New York Times, p. 1, Apr. 16, datelined Redding Apr. 15, did a follow up article on Sam:
MARK TWAIN HOLDS HIS OWN.
Passes a Comfortable Day—Country Air Has Good Effect.
REDDING, Conn., April 15.—Samuel L. Clemens, (Mark Twain,) who arrived at his country home here last evening, fatigued from his long journey from Bermuda, and very ill, passed a comfortable day with no appreciable change in his condition and was holding his own pretty well. A second nurse arrived today.
April 16 Friday — Clemens A.D. for this day is listed by MTP.
April 16 Saturday — Andrew Carnegie wrote from NYC to Sam: “So glad you are reported better this morning gives me hopes you are to weather the storm & be spared to us a while longer—so be it....When you get real chatty again if you can not come down I’d like to make a pilgrimage to your shrine just to get a few sniffs of a real genuine work a day saint...” [MTP].
April 17 Saturday - At 3 a.m. in Redding, Conn., Sam began a letter to William Dean Howells, that he added to at 10 a.m.
My pen has gone dry, & the ink is out of reach. Howells, Did you write me day-before-day-before yesterday, or did I dream it? In my mind’s eye I most vividly see your handwrite on a square blue envelop in the mail-pile. I have hunted the house over but there is no such letter. Was it an illusion?
April 17 Sunday - Clara Clemens Gabrilowitsch and her husband arrived at Stormfield. This was reported by the New York Times, p. 6, Apr. 18:
MARK TWAIN SEEMS BETTER.
Arrival of Daughter from Abroad Brightens Sick Man Considerably.
April 18 Sunday - Sam’s original guestbook, since replaced by the newer, more elegant gift from Mary B. Rogers, for some reason lists this date for Frederick E. Robson, Toronto, Canada. Under Robson’s name: James Parks, Bank House, Birkdale, Lancashire 0.8 V. 09 [Mac Donnell TS 7].
April 18 Monday — The New York Times, Apr. 19, p. 9 datelined Apr. 18 Redding, announced improvement:
Mark Twain Improving.
REDDING, Conn., April 18.—Samuel L, Clemens, (Mark ‘Twain,) who is seriously ill with heart disease at his home near here had a restful night and was brighter and to all appearances better today. Dr. Robert H, Halsey who has been with Mr. Clemens since Saturday, went to New York this morning, seemingly satisfied with the progress Mr. Clemens was making.
April 19 Monday - In Redding, Conn. Sam wrote to daughter Jean in Montclair, N.J.
Dear child you will be as welcome as if it were your mother herself calling you home from exile!
April 19 Tuesday - The New York Times, p. 18, Apr. 20, datelined Apr. 19 Redding, announced:
Mark Twain a Little Weaker.
REDDING, Conn,, April 19.—Samuel L. Clemens, (Mark Twain,) who is here trying to regain his health after the severe attack of heart trouble that prostrated him on the voyage from Bermuda to New York last week, is a little weaker. Dr. Robert Halsey of New York issued a statement tonight as follows:
April — Sam inscribed a photograph of himself seated for Elizabeth, not further identified [Ebay, Bestdarnautographs, 2010].
Sam also inscribe a photograph of himself (in a two-piece white suit smoking a cigar) to Sir Gilbert Parker: “To / Sir Gilbert Parker / with the love of / Mark Twain / April/09.” [Sotheby’s, June 19, 2003, Lot 133]. Note this photo was used for the cover of Sotheby’s catalog for the Mark Twain Collection of Nick Karanovich.
April 2 Friday — Clemens recorded this day’s events and of Ashcroft carrying Horace Hazen’s forced letter of “discharge” on the trip to Norfolk:
April 20 Tuesday — Sam recorded an incident for this date:
April 20 Wednesday — The New York Times, Apr. 21, datelined Apr. 20 Danbury, announced:
MARK TWAIN SINKING.
Author’s Condition is Critical, but He Is Expected to Live Through the Night.
Special to The New York Times.
April 21 Wednesday — Sam’s new guestbook:
| Name | Address | Date | Remarks |
| F. A. Duneka | New York | April 21, 1909 |
In his copy of Letters of James Russell Lowell, Ed. by Charles Eliot Norton (2 vols.; 1893), Sam wrote a note about his own suicidal impulse in 1866 and dated it this date, 3 a.m.: In part: