To The Person Sitting in Darkness: Day By Day

February 18 Monday – At 1410 W. 10th in N.Y.C., Sam sent his decline-to-lecture form letter (see Feb. entry) to Wallace E. Mason, attorney and principal of the High School in Leominster, Mass. Note: (pronounced by natives and the editor’s daughter who lives there, as “Lemon stah”—displaying a native eschewing for the letter ‘R’) [MTP].

February 18 Tuesday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote to Robert Bridges, declining an invitation as he was to “go yachting in the southern seas” at month’s end [MTP].

Fatout lists Sam reading unspecified stories at a Boys Club in N.Y.C. [MT Speaking 670], undoubtedly from this entry in Sam’s notebook: “4.30 p.m. At The Boy’s Club. Corey Fund meeting. (Letter from Wm. H. McElroy, 135 W. 95th.) / Must try to get there. / Dinner to Julie Langdon, my niece” [NB 45 TS 4].

February 18 Wednesday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote to Mrs. Edward M. McCook, in Old Point Comfort, Virginia, where Jean Clemens had been recuperating from her bout with pneumonia.

February 18 Thursday – Sam’s notebook: “Report that Count Massiglia is to arrive from Siam Saturday. Probably not very welcome news for his widow” [NB 47 TS 6]. Note: Count Annibale Raybaudi (Rebaudi) Massiglia (1853-1942), was a diplomat in several countries, but not all at once.

February 19 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook: “Aldine dinner in honor of Howells, new Pres. Of Natl Institute Arts & Letters” [NB 44 TS 6].

At 1410 W. 10th in N.Y.C., Sam wrote to nephew Samuel E. Moffett: “Please attend to him, Sam & tell him I am too ignorant of the matter & too busy” [MTP]. Note: the remainder of the letter is torn off; this may relate to the Montgomery request for family matter recently referred to Moffett.

February 19 Wednesday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote to Rev. L.M. Powers of the Universalist Church in Haverhill, Mass., a collector who had requested autographed copies of books:

You make it so pleasant for me to say yes, & so easy, that I can’t say no although my conscience demands it. I do smoke, though not to excess, there not being hours enough in the 24 for that.

February 19 Friday – Sam’s notebook: “The peasant whose thumb was bitten off by the Countess’s mad donkey proposes to sue for damages. Recommended to him to Senator Lucchini” [NB 47 TS 6].

February – The North American Review ran Mark Twain’s article, “To the Person Sitting in Darkness.” It was not included in any collections during his lifetime [Budd, Collected 2: 1006], though it was republished in pamphlet form. Note: He received many letters of response on this significant article, which recast him as a patriot in the eyes of many. There were critics, however, sometimes severe in their treatment of the piece and of Clemens.

February – Sometime after Sam’s 24 hour stay with Joe Twichell, he wrote his reactions to the loaned copy of Freedom of Will :

February – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam replied with one line to Frederick A. Duneka: “This is a most dam good Conclusion—put it in, Duneka / SLC” [MTP].

Prof. William Milligan Sloane wrote from NYC to Sam. “I want you here on March 5th at one o’clock to lunch with Sidney Lee and I want you very badly. Do come, there will be some of your best friends.” Hearing “conflicting accounts” of Livy, Prof. Sloane hoped she was no worse but much better [MTP].

February – Fernando Fini wrote to Sam, sometime between Feb. and Apr. 1904. The letter is three pages of Italian [MTP].

G. Herbert Thring for Society of Authors, London sent Sam a printed announcement for their dinner at the Hotel Cecil on Apr. 20 [MTP].

T.M. Parrott’s article, “Mark Twain: Made in America,” ran in Booklovers’ Magazine, p. 145-54. Tenney: “An extensive, general discussion of MT’s writing, which is characterized by a sweet sunniness, across which no shadow of impurity ever falls” [40].

February 2 Saturday – Sam’s notebook: “Speyor [sic ] calls for me. Afternoon, 330. East side poor?” [NB 44 TS 5]. Note: James Speyer (1861-1941), American banker, who, along with his wife, Ellin Prince Lowry Speyer (d. 1921) helped to organize the University Settlement Society in 1891 and was also involved in many social, educational, and cultural organizations in N.Y.C., including the Speyer school at Columbia University.

February 2 Sunday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote to ask Franklin G. Whitmore if his Players Club dues had been paid while he was in Europe [MTP].

The New York Times, p. 11, “Notes of the Stage” announced that the Children’s Theatre was preparing to open at Carnegie Lyceum on Feb. 8 with a matinee of Mark Twain’s story in the Christmas Harper’s, of the little girl and the Lord General.

February 2 Monday – In Riverdale, N.Y.: Sam’s notebook: “33d wedding anniversary. I was allowed to see Livy 5 minutes this morning, in honor of the day. She makes but little progress toward recovery, still there is certainly some, we are sure” [NB 46 TS 9; also MTB 1195].

February 2 Tuesday – Isabel Lyon was “attacked” by the Countess Masiglia’s donkey [Feb. 8 to Duneka], if it was hers. Hill writes:

Then the countess’s donkey—or at any rate a donkey which Clemens said was hers, although she denied the ownership—joined the battle. It was Miss Lyon who suffered, by her own account,

February 20 Wednesday – At 1410 W. 10th in N.Y.C., Sam wrote to William Carey of Century Magazine. Sam wrote to him at the University Club: “Carey says he knows I would rather write than be President. This has all the ear-marks of one of Carey’s ordinary every-day lies” [MTP]. Note: See June 14, 1897 entry; Carey died later in 1901 in his forties.

Sam also wrote to Henry R. Chamberlain, head of Laffan’s news service in China.

February 21 Thursday – At 1410 W. 10th in N.Y.C., Sam wrote thanks to Brander Matthews “for that dedication… / The Supreme Court didn’t need to worry: I was going to assume all the responsibilities any way, just because of the confidence I have always had in you” [MTP]. Note: see Matthews’ dedication in his new book, Feb. 20 entry.

February 21 Friday – Sam’s notebook: “Gilder, 13 East 8th—pm” [NB 45 TS 4]. Note: the “pm” suggests Sam had an evening appointment with Richard Watson Gilder. A dinner engagement usually included a time.

Elisabeth Marbury sent a statement and a royalty check to Sam for the PW play, week ending Feb. 8: $9.84 [MTP].

February 21 Saturday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote to Poultney Bigelow.

February 21 Sunday – Lady Augusta Gregory wrote from Gort, Ireland to Sam, sorry to hear “so sad an account of your dear wife’s health.” Mr. Yeats was sailing home and she had given him Sam’s “kind message.” She was alone there making repairs from a great storm of last year, and would soon go to London to help her son, who had taken up art with charcoal and pencil.

February 22 Friday – Rev. Washington Gladden of the First Congregational Church, Columbus, Ohio to Sam; a friend of Rev. Ament’s, Gladden wrote “To any one who knows Mr. Ament these charges have not for one moment been credible” [MTP].

Thomas Hunt wrote compliments of Twain’s “Sitting in Darkness” article: “O that there were more men in this world like you and Henry George and that you might always be with us!” [MTP].

February 22 Saturday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam replied to Hélène Elisabeth Picard’s Feb. 5, and told her of his Juggernaut Club and her election for the “Member for France.”

Dear Miss Hélène:

February 22 Monday –Sam’s notebook: “At midnight Livy’s pulse went to 192, & there was a collapse. Great alarm. Subcutaneous injection of brandy saved her” [NB 47 TS 7].

February 23 Saturday – Sam’s notebook: “(See Mar 2) University Club—dinner—7.30 o’clock. Stone’s at 9. Corey & Judge Howland” [NB 44 TS 6]. Note: Henry Elias Howland, (1835-1913), former Supreme Court Justice, president of the University Club, popular and witty speaker; William Ellis Corey. Stone’s is not identified. Sam initially misdated the dinner, which took place on Mar. 2

February 23 ca. – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote to an unidentified person [MTP].