To The Person Sitting in Darkness: Day By Day

May 29 Sunday – At the Villa Reale di Quarto near Florence Sam wrote to Francis B. Keene. “I am very much obliged. I am writing the Harpers that I will let them know by Sept. 1, whether to pay the duties & keep the portrait in America, or decline the duties & return it to me here” [MTP].

May 3 Friday – Sam’s notebook—an appointment and a story idea?: “L. Returns. Harry Harper—3 p.m. | Death by an explosion foretold. Look sharp on a certain date. If you must go out, go straight ahead—turn to the right if you choose, but never to the left. He is headed off from the right once, by a steam fire engine & is chased down to the left. Believes the boiler will explode. At the right moment, dynamite, intended for another, falls at his feet & kills him” [NB 44 TS 9]. Note: Livy returned from Baltimore.

May 3 Saturday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote to Lewis P. Ward, “(Known in the last century as ‘Little Ward’)” at The Olympic Club, S.F. Only the envelope survives [MTP]. Note: Ward died in 1903.

Sam’s notebook contains Sam’s reminiscence of another dinner party:

Dined at Sir Henry M. Stanley in (’99?) after the South African war broke out. At end of table, Lady Stanley’s sister at my left, (The Castle School) Lord Kirchener next to her, Chamberlain next to me.

May 3 Sunday – Sam also wrote to Millard Sewell.

Friend Sewall: —

I am not conscious of any hostility toward Christian Science, nor Mohammedanism, nor Hinduism, nor Judaism, nor Presbyterianism, nor Mormanism, nor Dowieism, nor any other religion. Sincerity of belief makes any religion respect worthy, and certainly the Christian Scientists are sincere. My hostility is all for Mrs. Eddy. I know she never wrote a line of Science and Health, therefore I have no respect for her; her claim is a falsehood, and she is a criminal.

May 3 Tuesday – At the Villa Reale di Quarto, Isabel Lyon wrote for Sam to Baroness Elisabeth de Nolde in Florence. (They would meet on May 12; see entry.)

Mr. Clemens wishes me to write for him to say that for some time he has been trying to call upon you but he cannot seem to do so, and he sends you Mr. Duneka’s letter, that you may see what he says, and determine whether you will write him yourself or let the matter drop.

May 30 Thursday – Sam’s notebook: “Mrs. Broughton” [NB 44 TS 11]. Note: Cara Leland Rogers was Mrs. Urban H. Broughton

Check # Payee Amount [Notes]

220 dollar watch co 1.00

At 1410 W. 10th in N.Y.C., Sam wrote to an unidentified man: “$1 enclosed. /14 W. 10th st May 30. / Dear Sir:

May 30 Friday – It was a full first day In Hannibal, Mo. Sam gave an autograph to Minnie Dawson. Sometime during his stay in Hannibal (May 30 to June 9) he also gave an autograph on St. Louis Country Club letterhead in Clayton, Mo. to Sophie Sloan. Sam stayed up till after midnite into May 31, when he wrote Livy about the day .

May 30 Saturday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam replied to Thomas F. Gatts (1863-1915), attorney for the 1904 St. Louis Fair. (Incoming letter from Gatts not extant; see June 3 from Gatts, June 8 to Gatts.)

May 31 Friday – Sherman D. Callender wrote to Sam enclosing an invitation for an informal dinner with the Rev. Dr. William Scott Ament, of China on June 3 at 6:30 p.m. at the Fellowcraft Club Rooms, Hartford [MTP]. Note: the invitation was likely an attempt to reverse Sam’s opinion of Ament.

Check # Payee Amount [Notes]

222 Self 300.00 Bank of Metropolis

May 31 Saturday – In the wee hours of May 31 in Hannibal, Mo. Sam wrote of the trip and the previous full day to Livy. See May 29 entry.

Later in the day Sam attended a reception for the 1901 Hannibal High School graduating class in the Windsor Hotel and told of his boyhood attempt to get measles. They gave Sam a spoon engraved with an image of his old home on Hill Street [Sorrentino 21]. Note: see MTCI p.447.

Sam’s notebook: “7.30 p.m., hotel. Meet class of 1900, High School. / 8.30 Reception” [NB 45 TS 15].

May 31 Sunday – Sam’s notebook: “Bergheim here—lunch. / [Horiz. Line separator] / Take him to Lotos— / [Horiz. Line separator] / Leave him there & go to Mr. Rogers & show him Collier proposal” [NB 46 TS 18].

May 31 Tuesday – Susan Crane wrote to Sam, forwarding a request by Mary P. Partridge, dated May 29, asking for his autograph. Mary was “a most respectable old lady,” Sue wrote, “whose daughter Mrs Diven was one of Livy’s old friends, therefore I could not decline to make the request” [MTP].

May 4 Saturday – At 1410 W. 10th in N.Y.C., Sam wrote to George B. Harvey. Clemens wanted to include his story “The Death Wafer” to the next volume by Bliss for his collected works. This was “a short story which I think a great deal of, and which I wish to print in the Xmas Harper.” Would it be acceptable for Bliss to print and bind the new volume between now and Christmas, “provided he did not issue a copy before the Xmas Harper was out?” [MTP].

May 4 Sunday – Livy’s diary: “Mr & Mrs Wm E. Dodge came for tea” [MTP: DV161].

May 4 Monday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam, still laid up, wrote to Brander Matthews.

I haven’t been out of my bed for 4 weeks, but—well, I have been reading, a good deal, & it occurs to me to ask you to sit down, some time or other when you have 8 or 9 months to spare, & jot me down a certain few literary particulars for my help & elevation. Your time need not be thrown away, for at your further leisure you can make Columbian lectures out of the results & do your students a good turn.

May 4 Wednesday – At the Villa Reale di Quarto near Florence Sam replied to Poultney Bigelow (incoming not extant).

Indeed I should like to be at next Year’s dinner, but of course Mrs. Clemens is most unlikely to be able to make a sea voyage then or even sometime later. We hope and expect to keep her in this world for years yet, but she will never again be strong enough to travel, I am afraid. We had her on her feet for a little while, but that was many months ago.

May 5 Monday – H.H. Rogers wrote to Sam that he had sent James F. Strang a reply as Sam requested (see Mar. 31 from Strang), and would “tackle the other to-morrow” [MTHHR 486]. Rogers’ letter (which seems very Twain-like):

May 5 Tuesday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote to Susan Crane.

God is very good to us, when He can’t think up anything fresh. Jean is so much better this morning that Katy calls her almost well; I am so much better that I have suspended the tiresome poultices till afternoon; Livy is so much better that she bombards me right along with urgent notes about business; Clara is so much better that there is nothing the matter with her, & hasn’t been. For these mercies, &c., &c., &c.

May 6 Monday – Sam’s notebook: “The Osbornes 7.30 850 Madison ave / Ask about gravestones. Sail Sunday 12, or Monday? Invite Twichell & Harvey? Or Corey? Harry Harper proposition” [NB 44 TS 10].

May 6 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook: “Alice Day, dinner, to meet Lord & Lady Kelvin 8. p.m.” [NB 45 TS 12]. Note:

May 6 Wednesday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote a note to Franklin G. Whitmore.

“Mrs. Clemens left the enclosed out, thinking they would not sell for anything, but I think they will help pay the taxes. / Make no report to Reeves. Take the whole commission. If he complains I will settle with him myself” [MTP]. Note: See May 2.

May 6 Friday – At the Villa Reale di Quarto near Florence, Isabel V. Lyon wrote for Sam to I. Goldsmith Proctor, thanking him for the offer of Villa Granduchessa, which Sam had seen and found charming, but it was “not entirely suited to his needs” [MTP].

I. Goldsmith Proctor wrote from Florence to Sam about a possible villa for the Clemenses [MTP].

May 7 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook: “Trains leave foot 23d / 10.55 a.m. / 12.55 p.m. / 1.25 / 2.10 / 3.55 p.m. Princeton direct. / Photograph—10.30” [NB 44 TS 10].

Possibly on this day Sam also wrote on a calling card to Dr. Elizabeth Jarrett: “Admit the bearer at any hour in the 24 / SL Clemens” [eBay Mar. 16, 2006, Item 6612597385].

Barbara Mullen wrote to Sam inviting him to speak at her high school. Mullen’s letter is not extant but it is referred to in Sam’s May 20 reply.

May 7 Wednesday – Sam’s notebook: “Train 6.40—arr. 7.9. / Dinner here—7.30. Robt. McClure & Jaccaci” [NB 45 TS 12]. Note: August F. Jaccaci, art director for McClure’s Magazine.

Blanche E. Weekes wrote from Baltimore to Sam.

I send you by this mail a copy of the dramatisation of your book “Prince and Pauper.” I hope it will meet with your approval, and can find enough merit to permit it submitted to a manager.

May 7 Thursday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote on the top of a May 6 letter regarding a poet-humorist convention, to William Dean Howells.