March 13 Monday – In Florence Sam wrote to Frederick J. Hall, enclosing two articles for magazines.
The Story contains 3,800 to 4,000 words [Possibly, “Is He Living, or Is He Dead?”]
The “Diary” contains 3,800 words. [“Adam’s Diary”]
Each would make about 4 pages of the Century.
The Diary is a gem, if I do say it myself…
Sam felt they should sell for $600 each, and if Cosmopolitan didn’t want them, Hall was to send them to the Century without naming a price,
March 13 Tuesday – Sam was at sea on the SS New York. Henry H. Rogers wrote to him with business details, saying he had “nothing of special interest to report.” Frederick J. Hall called on Rogers this day and reported progress in Webster & Co. affairs, and would write Sam.
March 13 Wednesday – Sam’s notebook:
26, East 57th, March 13/95. John Brisben Walker has just offered me $10,000 for 12 articles on my Australian trip. If I make the trip I think I will accept [NB 34 TS 6]. Note: Sam did make the trip but reconsidered and turned down all such offers. On June 18, 1895, he would answer Frank Hall Scott, president of the Century Publishing Co. See entry.
March 14 Tuesday – Frederick J. Hall responded to Sam’s Mar. 8 letter that the “emergency fund” he’d suggested should hold $30,000 “in the bank entirely separate from our regular accounts….Whenever we ran a little ahead we could put money back into this fund and use it as a sinking fund to pay off our indebtedness to you and to the Mount Morris Bank. Sam wrote on the envelope, “No more expense this summer & fall (’93)” [MTLTP 341n1;MTP].
March 14 Wednesday – The S.S. New York reached Southampton, England.
March 15 Wednesday – Sam’s notebook in Florence:
Wednesday. To Duomo, Piazza della Signorini, Palazzo Vecchio, Ufizzi & Pitti with Laffans.
Thursday. Laffan left for London last night [Mar. 15], Mrs. Laffan drove out & dined with us [NB 33 TS 3].
March 15 Thursday – Sam reached Paris, France and Livy. They had been separated longer than any other previous time in their lives [LLMT 297].
March 15 Friday – Sometime during this week Sam went to Hartford. He may have stayed at the Twichell’s, or the Day’s, who were renting the Clemens house on Farmington Ave. His Mar. 20 to Livy expressed that when he arrived in Hartford, he “did not want to go near the house , & didn’t want to go anywhere or see anybody,” which suggests he didn’t stay at either home initially. As to the length of his stay in Hartford, on Mar.
March 16 Thursday – In Florence Sam wrote to Laurence Hutton, who was to arrive in the city shortly after Sam left for New York. Hutton had been in Egypt.
March 16 Friday – F. Gerstel, a dentist in Austria, wrote in German to Sam, who wrote on the envelope, Begging letter. This tramp sent me a hatful of ancient, worn, & smutty testimonials, recommendations to people’s charity. He not only paid double postage on the cargo, but paid also to have it registered. He must be rich [MTP].
March 17 Saturday – In the New York Times this date, p.2, “The Social World,” it seems the NYC branch of the Vassar Students’ Aid Society were selling the signatures of Mark Twain, Mary Mapes Dodge, Charles Dudley Warner, William Dean Howells, Brander Matthews, Kate Douglas Wiggin and others. An annual event, the sale began Friday, Mar. 16 and continued this day into the evening.
March 18 Friday – In Menton, France, Sam responded to Dr. Richard Hodgson’s Feb. 16 letter (see entry), and Livy added a line:
Dear Sir:
Your favor of Feb. 16 has been forwarded to me, and in answer I am sorry to be obliged to say that I possess none of the evidences which you mention.
March 18 Saturday – Sam’s notebook in Florence:
To dine Saturday Eve at Poggio Gherardo to meet Sir William Mackby & Lady Mackby, Chief Judge. Ask if he knows Douglas Straight, who is back from India lately, retired and knighted [NB 33 TS 4].
March – Brander Matthews’ article, “American Fiction Again,” ran in Cosmopolitan, p.636-40. From Tenney:
March – The fourth of seven parts from PW ran in the January issue of Century Magazine. The fifth of six installments of Tom Sawyer Abroad appeared in the Mar. 1894 issue of St. Nicholas Magazine.
March – The North American Review for March carried Max O’Rell’s (Leon Paul Blouët) article, “Mark Twain & Paul Bourget,” an answer to Sam’s criticism of Bourget’s observations of America. O’Rell added a spirited defense of French morality [Tenney 24].
March 19 Saturday – Susy Clemens’ twentieth birthday.
Once again Sam was away from one of his daughters on a birthday, this time Susy. Sam and Livy were enjoying a sunny respite in Menton, France.
March 19 Sunday – Susy Clemens’ 21st birthday. In her late March letter to Louise Brownell, Susy wrote:
Mr. Phelps was with us on the 19th my birthday, twenty first, and he tried to tease me past bearing but I didn’t mind. He is very charming but so naïve! A naïve ambassador. He has accepted the judgeship [Cotton 101219]. Note: see Feb. 14, 1893 entry on Phelps.
March 19 Monday – Susy Clemens’ 22nd birthday.
March 19 Tuesday – Susy Clemens’ 23rd birthday.
The New York Times, p.3, “Theatrical Gossip” Mar. 20, 1895:
March 2 Wednesday – Sam and Livy were in transit to Menton, France.
Robert McClure, brother of Samuel S. McClure, wrote to Sam at his Paris address from his London office. Sam would forward this letter to Hall on Mar. 8.
Dear Mr. Clemens: —
I have to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 26th ult., also manuscript of the fifth article which I am having type-written and forwarded to New York.
March 2 Thursday – In Florence Sam wrote a two-sentence note to Frederick J. Hall. They’d received the check for £102.5.0 the night before and “were very short.” Sam repeated his hope that Hall would “have Carnegie convinced & converted by the time” he “arrived 30 days hence” [MTP].
March 2 Friday – In New York Sam wrote two letters to Livy. The first was “away after midnight,” and noted a 2:15 a.m. time in the margin. In the second at 3:40 p.m. he related the events of the day so far:
March 2 Saturday – The S.S. New York arrived in New York City [NY Times, Mar. 3, 1895 p.14, “Arrivals from Europe”; Mar. 11 to Livy]. Mrs. Cara Rogers Duff met his boat and escorted him to the Rogers’ home at 26 E. 57th Street [2nd Apr. 3 to Rogers].
March 20 Monday – In Florence Sam wrote to Richard Watson Gilder of the Century, asking if he knew the head of the Agricultural Dept. in Washington. Would he write and ask for a hand full of seed-corn, two or three of the best kinds and send them to Livy? They were for Janet D. Ross, their Florence neighbor [MTP].