To The Person Sitting in Darkness: Day By Day

May 7 Saturday – Charles J. Langdon wrote to Livy, enclosing a statement to May 1 [MTP].

May 8 Wednesday – Sam’s notebook: “Dora [Wheeler] Keith the whole day” [NB 44 TS 10].

At 1410 W. 10th in N.Y.C., Sam wrote to Laurence Hutton in Princeton, N.J.. to announce he was “coming down all alone per 3.55 train to-morrow. The rest of the tribe have to stay here” [MTP].

Hiram Stevens Maxim wrote from London to Sam having received his letter of Apr. 26 (not extant).

May 8 Thursday – Sam’s notebook: “Dine with the Halls” [NB 45 TS 12]. Note: Frederick J. Hall, Sam’s old partner at C. L Webster & Co. The Halls had visited the Clemenses at Dollis Hill in Sept. 1900.

Livy’s diary: “Mr John Quincy Adams, Mr George de Forest Brush, Mr Duncan, Miss Grace Dodge, Miss May Dodge & Miss [Anne] Sedgwick here for tea. We dined with Mr & Mrs Henry Hall” [MTP: DV161].

May 8 Friday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam added to his Apr. 7 to John Y. MacAlister that he discovered this day he’d forgotten to post.

May 8. Great Scott! I never mailed this letter! I addressed it, stamped it, put “Registered” on it—then left it lying unsealed on the arm of my chair, & rushed up to my bed quaking with a chill. I’ve never been out of the bed since—oh, bronchitis, rheumatism, two sets of teeth aching, land, I’ve had a randy time for 4 weeks. And to-day—great guns, one of the very worst!

May 8 Sunday – Sam’s notebook: “Asked Dr. Kirch for his 3-months’ bill, & got it: $900! It is robbery. / Told Miss Lyon to ask him to put it in lire—which he did: 4,500—& he was embarrassed. $900 is about 4,630 lire. The man is a hog” [NB 47 TS 10]. Note: Sam would enjoin lawyers in a squabble over the billing.

May 9 Thursday – Sam’s notebook: “Read in Princeton. See Jan. 7. Evening. I read: Watermelon/ Dead Man—sash / Mexican Plug / Old Ram / German Lesson” [NB 44 TS 10]. Note: Sam compared with Jan. 7 readings at H.H. Rogers.

Sam wrote a postcard to Dr. Elizabeth Jarrett: “I shall be ready at 1.45./ Very Truly Yours / SL Clemens” [eBay Mar. 16, 2006, Item 6612597385; Valley Auctions 15 Apr. 2007, Lot 792].

May 9 Friday – Sam’s notebook entry consists of a list of possible readings, though no appearance for this date has been found; “Death of Mary / Tearing down the stable / Watermelon / Dead man / Getting measles / Conspiracy” [NB 45 TS 12]. Note: it is possible Sam did a reading at the Gilder reception mentioned below:

Livy’s diary: “Dined with Mr & Mrs Chapin; went to Mrs Gilder’s reception in the evening” [MTP: DV161].

May 9 Saturday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote to Franklin G. Whitmore concerning items in the Hartford house that should be sold loose: “3 or 4 sets of billiard balls,” worth about $50 per set; the old safe in the cellar Sam had purchased for $200, “painted windows…made in England after the house was finished.” Sam noted that the seller of the Tarrytown house had ripped out built in bookshelves “when our back was turned” [MTP].

May 9 Monday – At the Villa Reale di Quarto near Florence Sam wrote to Muriel M. Pears.

November 1 Thursday – In the afternoon the Clemens family moved into 14 W. 10th Avenue in N.Y.C.  [Note: subsequent entries have 1410 W. 10th]

Sam wrote to Frank Bliss.

“Dear Bliss: Do you remember that large photo by Barnett, London? Were you to send it to Mr. Rogers after engraving it? Did you do it? Above is our new address. We are to move in this afternoon. Make a note of it. Yrs. S.L. Clemens” [MTP]. Note: the new address was 14 W. 10th, N.Y.C. H. Walter Barnett, photographer.

November 1 Friday – Sam’s notebook: “Gerding. — Sam Moffett Lincoln Bank” [NB 44 TS 16]. Note: Charles Gerding, Jr. obtained a judgment against Isaac K. Funk of Funk & Wagnalls publishing. Funk had reorganized the Eastern Tennessee Land Co. in 1894, which had originally been formed in 1889 to establish a prohibition settlement. Charles Gerding, Sr. was at one time employed by the Co.

November 1 Saturday – In Riverdale, N.Y.: Sam’s notebook: “Miss Lyon came. / A reading in private house for Mrs. Bartholomew’s charity. / The Duel. Watermelon / Old Ram. Ornithorhyncus. / Mex. Plug. Russ. Passport. / Xms. Whistling. Golden Arm” [NB 45 TS 33]. Note: this is the reading canceled on May 1, 1902. Evidently he gave another reading for this charity on Dec. 20.

November 1 Sunday – Sam’s notebook: “These chattering, cackling squaws & monkeys will all be in hell in a hundred years. There is something pleasant in the thought. / The mission of Alexander Dowie (‘Elijah II’) is a bad failure in New York” [NB 46 TS 29]. Note: John Alexander Dowie (1847-1907), Scottish evangelist and faith healer, founder of Zion, Illinois. In 1903 he held a two-week evangelistic healing campaign at Madison Square Garden.

November 10 Saturday – At 1410 W. 10th in N.Y.C., Sam wrote to John Brisben Walker, that Livy and the girls had hired a motor car (“mobile”). He then faced the modern problem of how to get a taxi in New York City when one was needed:

The world does move! Mrs. Clemens & the girls have gone off in a hired mobile to the theatre in Harlem. She & I went to Harlem in a coupe three days ago, with a poor tired horse who made less than 4 miles an hour, & it is a pity for the horse that has converted the woman.

November 10 Sunday – Sam’s notebook: “Return—11.35—12.30. / Bram Stoker, lunch Irving, dinner, 7, Players—Riggs Last train, 10.45” [NB 44 TS 17]. Note: entry suggests Sam stayed in town after the King’s Birthday celebration at Delmonico’s, had lunch and dinner, and took the last train back to Riverdale.

November 10 Monday – W. Harlan wrote from New Whatcom, Wash. to Sam, asking for a list of his books and which were the funniest; he wanted to recommend them to his patients. A doctor? Or a quack, Harlan believed in the power of vibration, which he called “Vibraopathy” [MTP]. Note: Clemens wrote on the env. “Curiosity”.

November 10 Tuesday – At the Villa Reale di Quarto near Florence Sam sent a telegram to Daniel Willard Fiske: “WE BEAR WITH DEEPEST SORROW HEAR YOU ARE ILL ALL THIS FAMILY SEND LOVE WISHES FOR YOUR SPEEDY RECOVERY + CLEMENS” [MTP]. Note: in George Gregory Smith’s Sept. 5 to Sam, he noted that “Prof. Fiske who is now in Copenhagen, and I am sorry to say sadly afflicted with his old enemy gout” [Orth 36].

November 11 Sunday – At 1410 W. 10th in N.Y.C., Sam wrote a postcard to Robert Underwood Johnson of Century Magazine.

“You’d much better come here—to-morrow before 12 noon—my den is sacred from interruption from 10.30 till 12 daily. But if you can’t, I’ll look in at the Century during the week” [MTP].

November 11 Monday – Sam’s notebook: “Jos. Johnson—10-11. / What is the difference between an optimist of 50 & a fool? Do not know of any” [NB 44 TS 17].

November 11 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook : “Take 2 p m. train for Hartford. / Bought …180 ½ Chi. Milwaukee & St. Paul, common 8% & 5 shs purchasable at par” [NB 45 TS 33]. Note: Sam decided not to go to Hartford due to Livy’s worsening condition [Nov. 9 to Dillingham].

In N.Y.C. William Dean Howells wrote to Sam.

November 11 Wednesday – At the Villa Reale di Quarto near Florence Sam began a letter to H.H. Rogers that he added a P.S. to on Nov. 12 and the balance on Nov. 15 [MTHHR 541-2]. Note: The segment written this day has been lost. The Nov. 12 and 15 segments remain.

November 12 Monday – Sam’s notebook: “Press Club 116 Nassau st. / Evening – 9 p.m. / Saml A. Wood Chn House Com. [circled]” [NB 43 TS 28].

At 9 p.m. Sam made three speeches at a reception of the New York Press Club, 116 Nassau St. From the New York Times, Nov. 13, p.14:

RECEPTION TO MARK TWAIN.

Humorist Entertained at the New York Press Club.

November 12 Tuesday – W.B. Forster Bonall (Borrill?) for The Echo (London) wrote to Sam: “Would you mind if I interviewed you from a distance about humor?” He was trying to make his paper pay but admitted “it’s hard work” [MTP]. Note: “last name doubtful”

November 12 Wednesday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote per Isabel V. Lyon to Franklin G. Whitmore.

Mr. Clemens wishes me to say that yesterday Mrs. Clemens was better and otherwise, but mainly otherwise.

Mr. Clemens also says that if the encumbrance on the property could be reduced as you suggest it would be a great relief.

Further that he is ready to put up the property for sale at auction, just as soon as Mrs. Clemens is well enough to say “Yes” to any business proposition.

November 12 Thursday – At the Villa Reale di Quarto Sam wrote to Countess Frances R. Massiglia.

I wish to ask permission to put in 3 or 4 “pigs;” in case it shall finally seem desirable to have them. Also I wish to ask leave to remove the annunciator to the ground floor, if you have no objections,—or put another annunciator down there, if these excursions into the unknown shall not turn out to be over-formidable & indiscreet [MTP].