February 16 Wednesday — Matthias Hollenbeck Arnot, Elmira financier and friend of Clemens, died at age 78 in Elmira, N.Y, reportedly worth fifty million dollars. He took none of it with him [NY Times, Feb. 16, 1910]. Note: Arnot was a principal backer of Sam’s Paige Typesetter. See Vol. II.
Sam came down with a head cold that lasted four days [Feb. 20 to Leary].
Daughter Clara wrote to Sam. The letter is not extant but replied to in Sam’s Mar, 6 [MTP].
February 17 Friday – Isabel Lyon’s journal recorded a visit from Muriel Pears of Scotland:
February 17 Sunday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: “A dear & lazy day. The dear King has been fussing a lot in these days over the auto instalments, but now he has nearly enough for the full year” [MTP TS 29].
Mrs. M.F. Cunningham wrote from Salt Lake City to Sam, thanking him for the pleasure his stories had given her and her son [MTP].
February 17 Monday – Sam inscribed a copy of Eve’s Diary to Kim C. Tabley: “To / Mrs. K.C. Tapley / with compliments of / The Author. / Clothes make the man, but they do not improve the woman. / Truly Yours / Mark Twain / Feb/08” [Nate D. Sanders, Autographs, eBay # 170659440080 June 26, 2011]. Note: evidently Twain thought her last name was “Tapley,” though the incoming (below) clearly shows “Tabley.”
Isabel Lyon’s journal: “Yes, we are to go to Bermuda on next Saturday” [MTP: IVL TS 24].
February 17 Wednesday — In Redding, Conn. Sam wrote to Frances Nunnally.
February 17 Thursday - In Hamilton, Bermuda Sam began a letter to Albert B. Paine in Redding, Conn. that he finished Feb, 18, which was in Helen Allen’s hand.
Dear Paine:
Let us not give up the tobacco forgery lightly. Even if Ashcroft could prove he was my authorized agent, he was still not authorized to use his authority to injure me & to steal £25 from me.
February 18 Saturday – At 21 Fifth Ave. in N.Y.C. Sam wrote to Muriel M. Pears.
It was delightful to have you here; even the idiot butler wasn’t able to spoil it. (Wait—this doesn’t mean that I am entirely placated yet, but only partly, only largely; I am not forgetting that you did not let me know at once when you arrived.) A week lost. I wouldn’t have served you like that.
February 18 Monday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: “Thompson brought 2 beautiful pictures, & I think the King will buy the moonlight one” [MTP TS 29]. Note: on Mar. 12 Frederic L. Thompson wrote to thank Clemens for buying two of his paintings. See the strange case of Thompson-Gifford. Thompson was a goldsmith who “suddenly and inexplicably seized with an impulse to sketch and paint pictures”:
http://www.aspsi.org/feat/life_after/tymn/a089mt-e-Thompson-Gifford_Case.php
February 18 Tuesday – Sam’s A.D. of Feb. 19 discloses his activities for the day and evening:
February 18 Thursday — In Redding, Conn. Sam wrote to Margery H. Clinton in N.Y.C.
Very dear Plumber:
(who doesn’t know how to plumb);
February 18 Friday - In Hamilton, Bermuda, Helen S. Allen finished Sam’s Feb. 17 to Albert B. Paine.
February 19 Sunday – At 21 Fifth Ave. in N.Y.C. Sam wrote to Father Raffaello Stiattesi.
Dear Padre: / It was most kind of you to remember me, & I thank you very much. From what you say I comprehend that the fragrant countess [Massiglia] from the divorce-courts of Philadelphia has been destroying my character. It is all right (as we say), it does not disturb me. The character that she could destroy is not worth saving.
February 19 Monday – Govinier C. Hall for the Knife & Fork Club in Kansas City, Mo. wrote to Sam [MTP]. Note: the social club was formed on Nov.
February 19 Tuesday – Clara Clemens left for another concert tour, with stops of: North Adams, Elmira, Hartford, Bangor, and Utica. She would return on Mar. 25 [Hill 165, 170; IVL TS 30].
Gallantz J. Bishop wrote from NYC to invite Sam to a banquet of the New Club of America, Hotel St. Regis, Mar. 14, and hoped Sam would “favor” them with “a few comments” [MTP].
February 19 Wednesday – In the evening Sam attended the Pilgrim’s Club Dinner at Delmonico’s in honor of Ambassador to England, Whitelaw Reid. The New York Times, Feb. 20, p. 3 reported:
AMBASSADOR REID THE PILGRIM’S GUEST
Tells Them Talk of War with Japan is Silly and That England Wouldn’t Aid Her.
——— ——— ———
CHEER KING AND PRESIDENT
Ex-ambassador Choate Presides In President Duncan’s Absence—Mark Twain Speaks.
February 19 Friday — John N. Ryan for Equitable Life Assurance, NYC wrote to ask Sam for “something from you” for the Year Book for the Pleiades Club, NYC [MTP].
A.H. Tomlinson wrote from Swathmore, Penn. to Sam. He’d sent a copy of “The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg” and asked that Sam sign it with a few words and place the date on it [MTP].
February – Clemens inscribed a copy of TS (1903 ed.) to an unidentified person: “One of the most striking and convincing differences between a lie & a cat is, that the cat has only nine lives. / Truly Yours / Mark Twain / Feb. 1905” [MTP: listed in Profiles in History, Oct. 2005, no. 40, item 130].
February – Sometime during the month Sam dined with William James, who wrote to his brother Henry James afterward: “Poor man, only good for monologue, in his old age, or for dialogue at best, but he’s a dear little genius all the same” [J. Kaplan 379].
The first edition of Christian Science, with Notes Containing Corrections to Date was published in February, 1907; two copies were deposited with the Copyright Office on Feb. 7 [Hirst, “A Note on the Text” Afterword materials p.13, Oxford ed. 1996].
February – Clemens signed his copy of Collected Verse of Rudyard Kipling (1907): “SL. Clemens / Feb. ’08 / from Doubleday” [Gribben 376]. Note: Sam would read from the volume in Bermuda in March.
February – In Redding, Conn. Sam wrote to Laura H. Frazer, childhood sweetheart.
Dear Laura,
Who of this list, have passed away? You will not be able to tell me in all cases, but tell me those you know about.
February — Sam’s contribution to the essays, “The Turning Point of My Life,” ran in this issue of Harper’s Bazar. This was a series of notable men who contributed individual essays on the theme. Hill writes of Twain’s contribution:
February 2, ca. – Isabel V. Lyon wrote responding for Sam to Arthur Newall’s Jan. 24 inquiry about obtaining a copy of 1601, writing on the bottom of Newall’s letter: “Mr. Clemens still has no copy & in every case where he thought he was on the track of one it failed—” [MTP].