The Man in the White Suit: Day By Day

January 27 Thursday — In Hamilton, Bermuda Sam wrote to Albert B. Paine in Redding, Conn.

January 28 Saturday – At 21 Fifth Ave. in N.Y.C. Sam wrote to William L. Alden.

I thank you heartily for giving me a chance to read it. Your article has given me great pleasure, special pleasure. It requires courage to say what you have said; few can run counter to an accepted & established popular notion & not lose nerve in the transit. We have all seen it, many times.

January 28 Monday – In his A.D. Sam referred to songs: “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow,” as he had in Ch. 11 of PW back in 1894 [Gribben 236]. He also referred to the Jan. 26 dinner, when Senator Clark of Montana “rose to the tune of … ‘God Save the King,’ frantically sawed and thumped by the fiddlers and the piano” during Union League Club speeches [263]. “The Star Spangled Banner” [370]. Note: Devoto selected this day’s dictation for inclusion in Mark Twain in Eruption (1940) p.70-77.  

January 28 Tuesday – Elisabeth Marbury wrote to bug Miss Lyon to return the contract with John W. Postgate ASAP [MTP].

January 28 Thursday – Sam was in New York City.; In Redding, Conn., Mary L. Howden (“Miss Mollie”) wrote for Sam to Mrs. L.T. Guilford.

1) Dear Madam X and to say that as many ladies have written papers on him for their [lunch societies for many years past it is not necessary for him to grant permission. He wishes me to say that he would [ be glad to answer your letter with his own hand but that the mail is so voluminous that it is ] ] impossible for him to attend to any of it personally [MTP]. SEE below:

January 28 Friday — Albert Bigelow Paine wrote from Redding to Clemens:

I will forward our letter to the Poet Moroso. It will gratify him very much—more than any money payment he could receive, I am sure.

I am enclosing you an interesting batch best of all a letter from Clara, written eleven days ago. Perhaps she has one on the way to you, too—of course she has—but you will be glad to see this, no doubt. I’d like to have it again, by and by,

January 29 Sunday – Harper & Brothers wrote to Sam.

We have an inquiry for the following sketches: “The Grateful Poodle,” “The Benevolent Author,” “The Grateful Husband,” which we are unable to indentify. Our correspondent states that all appeared in the Atlantic Monthly. It occurs to us that possibly these are not independent sketches or that the sketches were reproduced in book form under another title. Can you give us any information? [MTP].

On this day or just after Harper’s above letter arrived, Sam answered:

January 29 Monday – Sam was in Washington, D.C. Fatout lists him as giving remarks on copyright [MT Speaking 674].

Charles Alexander, Editor of Alexander’s Magazine (“dedicated to the interests of the black people in every part of the world”) wrote to Sam. He had a copy of “King Leopold’s Soliloquy” and also The Story of the Congo Free State by Henry Wellington Wack. Was Sam acquainted with Wack, and was his story of the Congo “worthy of belief?” Sam’s reply would be kept confidential [MTP]. Note: Sam answered Jan.31.

January 29 Tuesday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam replied to Miss Eleanor Robson, who was raising money for the support of Bret Harte’s daughter, Mrs. Jessamy Steele, who, Miss Robson wrote this day was “in dire need and in the Portland Me. Almshouse.”

January 29 Wednesday – M. Howard wrote from Richmond, Ind. to Sam, having been “very much entertained” by CS. He disagreed that Christian Science would spread over the world and mentioned past religious fanatical women whose movements failed [MTP].

Homer Saint-Gaudens wrote from Windsor, Vt. on “Estate of Augustus Saint-Gaudens” letterhead to ask Sam for any letters to his late father. He was planning a book and added:

January 29 Friday – Sam was in New York City and enjoyed a birthday dinner party for H.H. Rogers, “a pretty large one, for it is a big family when they all get together” [Jan. 31 to Sturgis]. Note: this would be HHR’s last birthday.

In Redding, Conn., Mary L. Howden (“Miss Mollie”) wrote for Sam to an unidentified woman. Jan 29.

January 29 Saturday — Sam finished his Jan. 26 to Elizabeth Wallace.

January 3 Tuesday – Charles Langdon wrote to Sam, enclosing a check for $120, payment of coupons on bonds (Park Co. Montana, and General Electric Co.) which had been owned by Susie Clemens [MTP].

Sam’s notebook:

Reduce p.c. on Congo.
Do you want Jean’s new article?
Man born with fal[s]e teeth
Palmistry article [with hand pointing up to next page] [NB 47A TS 1].

January 3 Thursday – Isabel Lyon’s journal:

It has been such a sweet, long, drowsing day, with a beautiful smooth sea; the King has slept, & so has Mr. Twichell …(there goes the dinner trumpet.) the picking up of loose ragged ends; getting ready for Hobby who will look after the mail while I’m away; & getting ready for & over the party. Of course I have relaxed.

January 3 Friday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam inscribed an aphorism on a calendar page for Jan. 3, 1908 to Mr. Randall: “We ought never to do wrong when people are looking. / Truly Yours / Mark Twain” [MTP: Profiles in History catalogs, No. 1, Item 55].

Isabel Lyon’s journal:  Dear Santa [Clara] comes in to sit by me because I’m in bed to get rid of the grippe & when I said it was such a wonderful place to stay in that I’d do it often, she remarked, “Yes, we certainly have got the bed bug habit.”

January 3 Sunday – In Redding, Conn. Sam wrote to Margaret Blackmer at the Misses Tewksbury’s School, Washington-on-Hudson, N.Y.

January 3 Monday - Albert B. Paine wrote to William H. Allen in Bermuda, advising them of Sam’s preferences during his stay there. Paine’s protectiveness of Clemens is quite evident:

For Mr. Clemens, I want to say that he is more than anxious to go to your house [Bay House] during his stay in Bermuda, for he does not like hotel life... but he feels he could not take advantage of this generosity on your part for any length of time without some compensation....

January 30 Monday – Robert Galbraith wrote from Tarrytown, NY to Sam, having rec’d his letter (not extant) and check on Monday. He’d been kept busy shoveling snow that blew back at night [MTP]. Note: Sam’s letter had likely been sent on Saturday, Jan. 28.

January 30 Wednesday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: Tearing headache less than 3 weeks since last.

Yesterday the King gave permission to have his name used in the Eleanor Robson benefit for Bret Harte’s daughter, but today he has revoked it, for he sees through the whole thing as being mainly an advertisement for Eleanor Robson. He is so impulsive, & continually has to withdraw from propositions that he has gone into with enthusiasm [MTP TS 25].

January 30 Thursday – Capt. John W. Crawford, “The Poet Scout” (1847-1917) wrote to Sam, enclosing a poem “To Mark Twain,” and two printed sheets, one picturing Crawford in a Buffalo-Bill-like outfit, and the other “Poems and Songs of the Poet Scout.” He also enclosed two post-card sized copies of a poem “A Sunshine Boomerang,” and the following note:

January 30 Saturday – In the evening Sam returned to Redding, Conn. from N.Y.C. after a ten day visit [Jan. 31 to Sturgis].

Sam’s brief article, “The New Planet” ran in Harper’s Weekly. Hill calls it “uninspired” [218].  

Sara Lippman wrote from Phila. to ask if she might send one of his books for his autograph [MTP].

Charles P.G. Scott for the Simplified Spelling Board sent a printed “Call For Third Annual Meeting, April 6 and 7, 1909” [MTP].

January 30 Sunday — In Hamilton, Bermuda Sam wrote to Thomas Lemuel James (1831-1916), prior Postmaster General briefly under Garfield (1881-1882); afterward until his death James was chairman of the board of directors of the Lincoln National Bank, NYC . See also Feb. 15 entry.

Dear General—

Please send me fifty dollars. Send it in silver American quarter pieces. Don’t send old rusty ones. Send bright and white and new ones just out of the mint. I have a special use for them. I enclose a check.

Sincerely yours,