July 12 Thursday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote his plans to Isabel V. Lyon in Dublin, N.H.
Checks received & banked.
We sail at 9 a.m. to-morrow, for over-Sunday. [to Fairhaven]
I resume business here on Monday, when Col. Harvey arrives. I shall expect to be here all the week [MTP]. Note: in her July 13 journal entry, Lyon calls this “a note not so big as a post scriptum.”
July 13 Friday – In the a.m. Sam and H.H. Rogers sailed again for Fairhaven on the Kanawha [July 12 to Lyon].
Isabel Lyon’s journal (Dublin, N.H.):
“Zarathustra” has arrived!
July 14 Saturday – Sam was at the Rogers’ residence in Fairhaven, Mass. for a weekend stay [July 12 and July 16 to Lyon].
Isabel Lyon’s journal (Dublin, N.H.):
Here am I reading “Thus spoke Zarathrustra” & I do not pretend to be qualified to say how wonderful I find it. …
July 15 Sunday – Sam was at the Rogers’ residence in Fairhaven, Mass. for a weekend stay [July 12 and July 16 to Lyon].
Isabel Lyon’s journal (Dublin, N.H.): “I am alone today;—wonderfully alone! / All the morning I had a rich solitude here in my room, reading Nietzche & theosophy… / A solitary luncheon—more reading—& then at 4.30 lovely Gladys Thayer came, & we had tea & talk together. I played for her the Tannhauser Overture & Grieg & Träumerer, before she left to hurry home” [MTP TS 96-97].
July 16 Monday – N.Y.C. 10 a.m. Sam wrote to Isabel V. Lyon in Dublin, N.H.
“I have just arrived. Please thank my nephew Sam Moffett for me, & say I wonder at his sending a valuable letter to ‘Redding,’ a place I have no recollection of ever having heard of in my life. Preserve his statistics. / With love to Jean” [MTP].
July 17 Tuesday – Isabel Lyon’s journal (Dublin, N.H.):
Jean, 3:30
July 18 Wednesday – Sam was in NYC. Isabel Lyon’s journal (Dublin, N.H.):
What will this day bring?
The grass is down! It was so ripe, so ready, and willing, to be slain. (3 men have been working at it all the morning.) It began to be so tired; & when the scythe swept through it, it lay so still, as if glad and full of rest—like other deaths.
July 19 Thursday – Sam was in NYC. Isabel Lyon’s journal (Dublin, N.H.): “Today we climbed Monadnock—starting before nine o’clock we slowly wound our way up those mighty slopes. I cannot write of the wonder of the mountain—the wonder of the day. It was too great. It was a mighty stroke out of the great drama of eternity. Oh the great soul of that eternal mountain” [MTP TS 98-99].
July 20 Friday – John T. Lewis, hero of Elmira, died on the way to the hospital [Sue Crane to Sam July 23, 1906].
Sam was in NYC. Isabel Lyon’s journal (Dublin, N.H.): “Today we read Orion Clemens letters. Some of them written back in 1862. Mr. Paine is [many illegible cancelled words]. Oh, the wonder of life” [MTP TS 99].
July 21 Saturday – Sam was in NYC. Isabel Lyon’s journal (Dublin, N.H.): “These are such beautiful days. The mountain has brought life to me. Who could have thought within the month there could be an awakening such as mine—an awakening out of black poisoned misery into the meaning of the mountain & the meaning & sacredness of life, whether in solitude or not” [MTP TS 99].
July 22 Sunday – Sam was in NYC. He signed and inscribed a photograph of himself in his three-piece white suit in a rocking chair, to Mai Rogers (Mrs. William R. Coe): “A happy voyage to you dear Mrs. Coe & a speedy return! Sincerely yours, S.L. Clemens July 22, 1906.” On the back he wrote, “Shall I learn to be good? ….I will sit here & think it over” [Skinner Auctioneers Nov. 19, 2006, Sale 2341, Lot 27].
July 23 Monday – Isabel Lyon’s journal (Dublin, N.H.): “Jean, 9.20 very severe, but cleared up well after” [MTP TS 100].
Susan Crane wrote to Sam, who included it in his A.D. of Aug. 11, 1906. She told of John T. Lewis’ dying requests and of his decline and death on July 20 [MTP].
July 24 Tuesday – Isabel Lyon’s journal (Dublin, N.H.): “Today we read Orion letters down under the apple tree in the field. It was very sweet down there. The Orion letters are monotonous—but they are not either [MTP TS 100].
July 25 Wednesday – Sam left Fairhaven, Mass. and arrived back in Dublin, N.H. [July 31 to Teller; IVL journal July 25].
Isabel Lyon’s journal: “Today the King came home. His hair is shorter than I have ever seen it, and he is a rejuvenated [sic] man. Yes—he is in a new world” [MTP TS 100].
Herbert Shearer for Farm, Field & Fireside (“The Great Farm Weekly”), Chicago, wrote to ask Sam if he would confirm a photograph they’d rec’d of his birthplace [MTP].
July 26 Thursday – Jean Clemens’ 26 birthday.
Isabel Lyon’s journal: “This morning Jean called Mr. Clemens an old sinner & he said, ‘Yes, Adam & I go out every Sunday morning with a basket & gather all the apples we can find!’” [MTP TS 100].
Donchian Brothers, Importers of Oriental rugs, NYC wrote to Sam with a quote of $381.50 for repairing the rugs from his Fifth Ave. house [MTP].
July 27 Friday – In Dublin, N.H. Sam wrote to daughter Clara in Norfolk, Conn.
It’s a darling lovely letter, you dear child, & not even Howells can surpass it for charm & grace & expression. I’m having typed copies made for Howells & Joe.
Poor Lewis is dead, & I am so glad he is set free from a world that has certain ungrateful imitation human beings in it.
July 28 Saturday – Isabel Lyon’s journal:
Jean, 10:45, violent. 6:40, long, violent. Petit mal all day.
The King is singing the Marseillaise in lusty tones as he is drawing a bath for himself. When the King sings very hard it means a perturbation of spirit; it means that something is not quite in key, it never stands for happiness.
July 30 Monday – In Dublin, N.H. Sam replied to the June 28 from Charles Orr, librarian, Case Library, Cleveland.
I cannot thank you enough for sending me copies of John Hay’s delicious notes to M . Gunn. In the matter of humor, what an unsurpassable touch John Hay had! I may have known Alexander r Gunn in those ancient days, but the name does not sound familiar to me.
July 31 Tuesday – George B. Harvey of Harpers arrived In Dublin and spent five days with Clemens, choosing 100,000 words from the 250,000 of the Autobiography for publication in the North American Review. Harvey left on Aug. 4 [Aug. 3 to Clara]. Isabel Lyon’s journal: “Col. Harvey arrived late this evening at 9:45” [MTP TS 102].
Sam wrote to Charlotte Teller Johnson.
August – The first of two installments of “The Horse’s Tale” ran in Harper’s Monthly for August. The second ran in Sept. issue; it would be published by Harper’s as a 153 page book on Oct. 24, 1907.
Sam also wrote to H.H. Rogers: “Dear Mr. Rogers: I’m accepting…tell me if you can go & if it will pay you to go. S.L.C.” [MTP: Anderson Galleries catalog, 4-5 April 1934, No. 4098, Item 116].
August 1 Wednesday – William Dean Howells wrote from Kittery Point, Maine to Sam.
August 2 Thursday – Frederick W. Wile wrote from the Berlin Bureau of the Chicago Daily News:
August 3 Friday – In Dublin, N.H. Sam wrote to daughter Clara in Norfolk, Conn.
August 4 Saturday – In Dublin, N.H. Sam wrote to Elizabeth Jordan, editor of Harper’s Bazaar, unable to be inspired to add to her collaborated story, his contribution being the boy character:
August 5 Sunday – In Dublin, N.H. Sam added a few lines to his Aug. 4 to Mary B. Rogers:
Sunday. / P.S.
No, gentle pal, return it to me, in the enclosed envelop. I will go over it again (aloud, this time, which is the only sure test), before I ship it to Harvey. (Don’t let any outsider see it, it is dangersome.) / SLC [MTP].
Sam also wrote to Joe Twichell.