June 8 Monday – Clara Clemens’ 29th birthday.
Sam’s notebook: “Visit & ask Duneka if he has proof that [Bliss] has transgressed. Show MS to Mr. Rogers. / [Horiz. Line separator] / See Collier & Mr. Rog. / [Horiz. Line separator] / is it 1/2 above cost on all books, old & uniform?” [NB 46 TS 18].
June 9 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook : “Mr. Perkins / after 8 p.m. / [Horiz. Line separator] / Arr. Boston 3 pm / leave at 3.54 same station (Terminal) / arr at New Bedford 5.23” [NB 46 TS 18]. Note: Sam was planning the trip to Fairhaven; he would go sometime between June 12 and 14. On June 25 Sam referred to George W. Perkins in a letter to Sue Crane as the man who would provide a tugboat at Riverside to take Livy down river to Hoboken, for the first leg to Dublin, N.H.
June 10 Wednesday – Sam’s notebook: “See Duneka. / [Horiz. Line separator] / Also Doubleday lawyer / Doubleday is writing Bliss (W) about $36.50. / [Horiz. Line separator] / See fly-leaf for lawyer’s address” [NB 46 TS 19].
June 11 Thursday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote to Ward Jacobs (in Hartford), one of three major stockholders of the American Publishing Co. arguing for a contract with Collier’s and suggesting again a stockholder’s meeting, which Frank Bliss “does not dare to call” [MTP].
Sam’s notebook: “1271 B’way, dentist. 2 p.m. / [Horiz. Line separator] / Interview with Bliss & Jacobs. No result” [NB 46 TS 19].
June 12 Friday – Sam was in Fairhaven, Mass. to confer with Rogers about business matters relating to Collier’s offers and arranging agreements between Collier’s, Harpers, and the American Publishing Co. Rogers had been recuperating from an appendectomy. Until this date, Livy had not been well enough to allow Sam to leave Riverdale. On June 15 Lyon wrote that Sam “came back this morning from a little visit with Mr.
June 13 Saturday – Sam was in Fairhaven, Mass. staying with the Rogers family.
June 14 Sunday – Sam sent a note and photograph portrait to David A. Munro. “McCracken has been playing sneak & spy in my house, & I have told him so in a letter [not extant] today” [MTP: Stan V. Henkels catalog, Apr. 9, 1931, No. 1452, Item 213]. Note: Sam stuck to his spelling of McCrackan.
Sam’s notebook: “Dinner at Dr. Parry’s to meet ‘Everyman’ / 249 E 32d—7.30” [NB 46 TS 19]. Note: Dr. Parry was a female N.Y.C. doctor who would treat Clara Clemens; see Nov. 7, 1904.
June 15 Monday – In the morning Sam returned from Fairhaven, Mass. where he conferred with H.H. Rogers over business matters (see June 12). Note: there is a seeming conflict here—the Dr. Parry dinner Sam noted was on June 14 while Lyon reported on June 15 he had returned from Fairhaven “this morning” and was tired. Either Sam missed the June 14 dinner; or he went directly to it from Fairhaven and stayed the night in N.Y.C. and then returned the morning of June 15.
June 16 Tuesday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote to Annie E. Trumbull.
Livy instructs me to thank you heartily & affectionately for your book, which has just arrived. She has had a chance to read only the two or three opening pages, but she finds them just delicious, & sees you in them & hears you talk. And itI am to send you her unfading & indestructible love.
June 21 Sunday – James Burton Pond (1838-1903), longtime tour manager of Mark Twain and others, died at his home in Jersey City, N.J. after an amputation of his leg on June 17. The New York Times reported his death on page 1, Jan. 22. Funeral services were to be held at Pond’s home on Tuesday evening, June 23 with burial at Woodlawn Cemetery, New York. Sam, who had recently been a pallbearer at the funerals of Charles Dudley Warner, J.D.F.
June 22 Monday – H.D. Rivers wrote from Stonewall, Ind. to Sam for his “advice & assistance in a literary project.” A self-proclaimed humorist, Rivers wanted to send some MS for Sam to evaluate. A self-addressed stamped env. still in the file was not used [MTP].
June 23 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook: “Go & look at Lahn / She sails 23d” [NB 46 TS 19].
June 24 Wednesday – According to his June 25 to Rogers, Sam arranged with Collier’s and Harpers for Collier to publish a set of Mark Twain’s works. Collier was to sell in sets only and only by subscription; Harper was to sell to the trade only, not in sets or by subscription, and no volume was to sell for less than $1.50. See June 25 to Rogers for more details.
June 25 Thursday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote to Susan Crane.
We are in the throes of packing, these days, & it is awful. But we are advancing. I am pretty sure we shall leave for Elmira per DL & W at 1 p.m. next Wednesday.
George W. Perkins will send an Erie tug up here for us to take Livy down to Hoboken.
June 26 Friday – Sam’s notebook: “Look at Lahn / Mrs. Stanley Brown—dinner/ Wright may call today” [NB 46 TS 20].
June 27 Saturday – Frank Bliss wrote a two-page typed letter to Sam concerning relinquishing contract rights for $50,000, and Collier’s possible entrance selling sets of Mark Twain’s books by subscription.
June 28 Sunday – The New York Times, p. SM12 ran a humorous article, wherein “Alligator Jack” John B. Downing told a story about Mark Twain.
Mark Twain’s Roast Chickens.
Recently Major John B. Downing of Middleport, Ohio, was discussing army chicken stealing and the various ways the boys had of preparing them to be served. The Major was a Mississippi River pilot in his young days and stood at the wheel as a cub under the watchful eye of “Sam” Clemens, the Mark Twain of the present day.
June 29 Monday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Isabel V. Lyon wrote for Sam to Franklin G. Whitmore.
“Mrs. Clemens wants me to ask if you will kindly see Mr. Jack Bunce about Mr. Clemens’s bust. Will you have a man sent there to pack it and ship it to Elmira—by freight. and all charges to be sent to Mr. Clemens. I saw Mrs. Clemens today for the first time. and she looks much better than I had expected” [MTP].
June 30 Tuesday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote an aphorism on Riverdale on the Hudson letterhead to an unidentified person: “Work & Play are words used to describe the same thing under differing conditions. / Truly Yours / Mark Twain / June 30/03” [Heritage Auction Galleries for Oct. 14-15, 2010; MTP].
Sam also wrote to George Walbridge Perkins, Sr., purchaser of the Wave Hill house earlier this year.
July – In Elmira, N.Y. sometime during the month, Sam wrote to Annie A. Fields.
Alas, and alas, we are packed for Italy, and all valued letters are packed and stored with the silver and hymn-books. There were not many, of course, we being near neighbors, and communicating mainly by mouth. I wish I would send you Warner’s Invocation on St. Valentine’s morning, beginning:
July 1 Wednesday – At 8:30 a.m. Sam, Livy, and her trained nurse, Miss Margaret Sherry, left the Riverdale house and went down the hill to get on a launch. From the launch to Rogers’ yacht Kanawha, then down river to the Lackawanna R.R. dock at Hoboken, the group made the 10 a.m. train for the long ride to Quarry Farm in Elmira. They arrived at 4:40 p.m. Clara and Jean were to follow them the first week in August. In his July 2 to the Huttons Sam described the trip, and put it to this day:
July 2 Thursday – At Quarry Farm in Elmira, N.Y. Sam wrote two letters to daughter Clara, still in Riverdale. The first:
Clara dear, if you are sorry you neglected to offer a good-bye to Miss Sherry yesterday at the cars, write to your mother & say so, but don’t do it in such a way as to betray that you got a hint from here. Miss Sherry is hurt about something, & your mother thinks it was that. She feels sure it must have been that, & she is troubled about it.
July 3 Friday – At Quarry Farm in Elmira, N.Y. Sam typed out a new proposition to Frank Bliss [July 4 to Jacobs].
Sam’s notebook: “Miss Sherry (the trained nurse) wheeled Livy beyond the barn & back. Livy is beginning to get rested from the journey / Finished framing & sent new prop. To Miss Murphy” [NB 46 TS 20]. Note: this last (see July 2 entry) a proposition about Collier selling sets; Miss Murphy was likely a typist. See also July 4 to Jacobs.
July 4, before – In Riverdale, N.Y. Isabel Lyon wrote for Sam to the Roycrofters, declining their invitation to dine on July 4 [MTP].
July 4 Saturday – At Quarry Farm in Elmira, N.Y. Sam wrote a postcard to Frederick A. Duneka, Harper & Brothers: “I am hatching another proposition for those Blisses people. This time I think it will go through, possibly” [MTP]. Note: see June 27 from Bliss; his initial plan was declined.
July 5 Sunday – At Quarry Farm in Elmira, N.Y. Sam wrote to daughter Clara in Riverdale, N.Y., who was again suffering from a carbuncle.
Ah, you poor thing!—I am so sorry for you. And so sorry for your mother, too. It was heedless in me to send your letter to her—but I never once thought.