April 15 Friday – Sam’s notebook: “The Judge comes at 3 p.m. / Or is it the 16th? / [Horiz. Line separator] / Canon at 1. p.m” [NB 47 TS 9].
Dorothy Williams wrote from Phila. to Sam, enclosing his horoscope; she asked for his photograph [MTP]. Note: the horoscope is not extant.
April 16 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook: “Mr. Enos—evening Social Club All Clemenses” [NB 44 TS 8].
In N.Y.C., Sam wrote a “NOTICE!” to Frank Bliss, explaining he could allow “copying-privileges” only when Bliss wanted, regardless of what Sam said, since he was obliged to say yes as a rule “as a trade-courtesy” [MTP].
April 16 Wednesday – Sam wrote a PS to his “A Defence of General Funston” article, which ran in the May issue of the N.A.R.
April 16 Thursday – Frederick A. Duneka of Harper & Brothers wrote asking Sam if there was “any hope for a story or an article for the Christmas” issue; he suggested a couple of possible topics, and apologized for doing so, but was “striking in the air in the hope of firing your imagination” [MTP].
April 16 Saturday – Sam’s notebook: “3 p.m. Vecchio / Be at via Strozzi 2 at 2.50” [NB 47 TS 9].
The New York Times, p. BR260, ran a short review of Mark Twain’s latest book:
The Humorists.
April 17 Wednesday – Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim (1840-1916) inventor born in Maine who lived in London, wrote to Sam about his “Sitting in Darkness” article:
April 17 Thursday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote on Thomas B. Reed’s note to H.H. Rogers [MTP].
April 17 Friday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote to John Livingston Wright.
April 17 Sunday – Sam’s notebook: “10 a.m. Sig. Gelli—portrait-photos. / [Horiz. Line separator] / Only one detail of God’s character is truthfully stated in the Bible: to Him a thouasand years are as a day. Look at the Crusades; look at the conversion of the world; look at any of His large undertakings—all are failures, for lack of time. Any really active person can do in a day what it takes him a thousand years to accomplish. He never succeeded in capturing His Sepulchre at all—yet He spent time enough on it to capture a whole cemetery” [NB 47 TS 9-10].
April 18 Thursday – Sam inscribed the first volume of his autographed 24-volume set of Mark Twain’s Works by American Publishing Co. to William S. Hofstra (1861-1932), Dutch immigrant lumber magnate and founder of Hofstra University: “With compliments to / William S. Hofstra / S.L. Clemens / (Mark Twain) / April 18, 1901” [eBay #370393968899, June 10, 2010]. Note: this set was numer 97 of 512 published. He likely signed other sets on this day that have yet to surface.
April 18 Friday – In N.Y.C. William Dean Howells wrote to Sam.
“Come here at one o’clock Saturday the 26th, and go with me to lunch with a lot of good fellows, who want you more than they know. I would not ask you if I did not believe you would have a good talk and a good time” [MTHL 2: 741]. Note: Sam agreed on Apr. 21.
Livy’s diary: “Mr Norman Hapgood here for luncheon. Mrs Hutchins Hapgood here for tea” [MTP: DV161].
April 18 Saturday – In Riverdale, N.Y., Sam was still in bed with bronchitis.
April 18 Monday – Dr. Moses Allen Starr wrote from NYC to Sam. “While I think an elevation much above 2000 ft—say 2500-3000 would possibly increase Mrs C’s difficulty of breathing, I doubt if 2000 will do any harm. So I wired you this morning on receipt of yours ‘Yes’ in reply to your question “Is it safe?” He also suggested some medicine for Livy if she was better [MTP].
April 19 Friday – The Clemens family left N.Y.C. and traveled to Saranac Lake, N.Y. [Apr. 21 to Alexander]. Note: Their purpose was to secure a cabin to return for summer for Livy’s health. See Apr. 21 to Alexander.
Sam’s notebook: “Heptagon – see below [for Apr.20] / Mr. Stokes 50 W. 39th / Mrs. Mott 17 East 47th” [NB 44 TS 9]. Note: Mrs. Jordan Lawrence Mott, Jr.
April 19 Saturday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam replied to Chatto & Windus’ Apr. 10
“The above is all right & satisfactory. Sell to Tauchnitz, if he wants it—& Robert Lutz. Harpers ought to have given you earlier notice.
In a hurry to catch a train, …” [MTP].
Insert: Hartford Courant for Apr. 19, 1902 (note: no price given)
April 19 Sunday – In Riverdale, N.Y., Sam was still in bed with bronchitis.
April 19 Tuesday – In London William Dean Howells wrote to Sam that he’d heard from the young (40) Dr. John Crawford, whom Howells had given a letter of introduction to Sam. Crawford had not shown in Florence, this letter suggests a lost letter from Clemens. Howells then sympathized with his old friend’s struggles:
April – Arthur Newall wrote from England asking where he might obtain a copy of Sam’s obscure 1601 tale of Elizabethan England. Newall’s letter and Sam’s reply are not extant but referred to in Newall’s Jan. 24, 1905 letter. In the 1905 letter Newall wrote that Sam had mentioned that Lords Wolseley and Houghton might have a copy. See the 1905 entry [MTP].
April – The North American Review published Sam’s essay, “Does the Race of Man Love a Lord?” It was collected in The $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories (1906) [Budd, Collected 2: 1007]. Paine calls this piece “a most interesting treatise on snobbery as a universal weakness” [MTB 1164].
Sam also wrote one of his aphorisms to an unidentified person: “On the whole it is better to deserve honors & not have them, than have them & not deserve them.” [MTP].
April – Mark Twain’s humorous article “Instructions in Art” first ran in Metropolitan Magazine this month and in May, 1903. In part, with some of his drawings (inserts).
April – A text of Sam’s autobiographical dictation survives made from Isabel Lyon’s notes during this month, that Paine later titled, “Henry H. Rogers,” and joined with a later manuscript (MTA 1: 250-56) [AMT 192]. Note: the source gives a 1906 MS typed by Josephine Hobby (1862-1950) and points out that Hobby copied a now lost earlier TS created by Jean Clemens. This is the only of six known Florence A.D.’s that Sam did not include in his final Autobiography. See Jan. 8, 14 entries.
April 2 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook: “Cody’s Wild West Madison Garden. Begin at 8 / Miss Harrison” [NB 44 TS 8]. Note: see this entry.
At 1410 W. 10th in N.Y.C., Sam replied to J. Henry Harper in N.Y.C. “Good. Then I shall expect you at noon tomorrow. I can’t come to you, for I am laid up with rheumatism” [MTP].
April 2 Wednesday – Sam’s notebook: “10 a.m. Entering Nassau. The blues, greens & bronzes of this water at Nassau surpass all the splendors of any water we have seen. Visit of Mr. Gladstone. / Flying fish 30 ft long” [NB 45 TS 8]. Note: Sam’s ship log essentially the same report.
In Nassau, Bahamas, Sam wrote to Livy.
April 2 Thursday – An unspecified doctor and specialist conferred and concluded that Livy would recover fully. They “ordered” her to go to Italy for the next winter. Clara Clemens wrote a Florence friend to locate a villa nearby [Apr. 7 to MacAlister].
Sam’s notebook: “Harry Rogers [illegible number?] pm / 38 E. 38. / Mr. Rogers put up monument to Drake in the oil regions (1902)” [NB 46 TS 13].
inserts: Drake monument.
April 2 Saturday – Sam’s notebook: “Tailor, 10 a.m.” [NB 47 TS 8]. Note: Sam’s Italian tailor is not known.