July 22 Monday – On the S.S. Minnetonka en route to New York City, Sam wrote an aphorism for Robert M. Curtis: “Truth is the most valuable thing we have. Let us economise it. / Truly Yours / Mark Twain / July 22/07.” [MTP].
The Minnetonka reached New York in the afternoon. The New York Times reported his arrival:
MARK TWAIN HOME IN GOOD HUMOR
Had Dinner with the King and Is Sure That the King Enjoyed It.
——— ——— ———
HE’S DR. CLEMENS, PLEASE
July 22 Wednesday – In Redding, Conn. Sam wrote to Margery H. Clinton at 39 E. 57 N.Y.C.
July 23 Saturday – In Tyringham, Mass. Sam wrote two letters (the first not sent) to Frank Mason (US Consul at Frankfurt), complaining of the neglect in sending certificates for Livy’s casket to the Prince Oscar before it left from Naples, threatening to put the casket ashore. The second letter:
July 23 Sunday – George Porter, playwright who had written a play on Joan of Arc, The Maid, A Drama in Five Acts (1904), visited Sam in Dublin, N.H. [Gribben 554: Note on July 19 from Porter]. On the inside of Porter’s July 19 letter Miss Lyon wrote, “He came—Sunday- July 23 and brought the play of Joan of Arc—and some sweet peas. He was chilled to the bones & shivering, so Mr. Clemens put his own cape about his shoulders, & gave him whiskey… / But oh dear— / He didn’t come to any point.
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 23 Tuesday – In Tuxedo Park, N.Y. Sam wrote to Dorothy Butes at the Hotel Webster.
Your letter has arrived to night. Tried to telephone you but you are out. To-day mailed letter to you in New Hampshire. I have engagement here tomorrow or would go and see you. Please telephone me here first thing in the morning. Call 113 Tuxedo. I am unspeakably sorry you are going without seeing you. If I had known you were in town I would have called last night [MTAq 46].
July 23 Thursday – George M. Robinson, Clara’s tour manager, wrote to Isabel Lyon c/o Clemens: “Will you kindly send me a check for $75., in accordance with our understanding. I am sending out two thousand circulars with letters enclosed. Will send you a copy of the circular to-morrow. I think it a vast improvement on last year’s issue” [MTP].
July 24 Sunday – Tyringham, Mass.: Sam’s notebook: “Rain—rain—rain. / [Horiz. Line separator] / Cold. We built a fire in my room. Then clawed the logs out & threw water, remembering there’s a brood of swallows in the chimney. The tragedy was averted” [MTB 1224; NB 47 TS 16 -17]. Note: Paine added the printed notebook dates, which were not part of Sam’s entries; he also made other small changes.
July 24 Monday – On or after this day in Dublin, N.H. Isabel V. Lyon wrote a short note for Sam to reply to George B. Harvey’s July 22 (below). “M . Clemens has already stopped this & has sent something. Very sorry to hear that Maj. Leigh is ill, & that Col H is well If M .Duneka cannot stand the Hell—then compromise on Sheol” [MTP]. Note: MTP places this as “on or after July 22” the date of Harvey’s incoming. Same day delivery from NYC to Dublin, N.H. was unlikely, so it is estimated on or after this day.
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 24 Wednesday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: The King is lonely and so we make calls in the afternoons, but mostly people are out. We did see Mrs. Davies and Mrs. Ogden who gave us iced coffee and the King sat on their beautiful terrace and told about the Punch Dinner and the King’s Garden Party, and those 2 ladies were very sweet and worshipful, Mrs. Davies was a little flustered when she glanced up at her window to see her undershirt hung on some kind of a wire and swinging cheerfully at us [MTP 86].
July 24 Friday – Sam, Ralph Ashcroft, and Zoheth S. Freeman played billiards from 9:30 p.m. till after midnight [July 27 to Quick]. Note: Freeman, at this time Vice-President of Liberty National Bank, N.Y. Along with Jervis Langdon II, and Edward Loomis, Freeman would be an executor to Sam’s estate.
Sam’s new guestbook:
Name Address Date Remarks
Mrs. Grace Hill Freeman (“Sheba”) New York July 24-26
Z.S. Freeman (her property) “ “
July 24 Saturday — Albert Bigelow Paine, as of July 17 the official manager of Clemens’ business affairs, signed an agreement on this day to take over the editing of the volumes of letters [Hill 242]. Note: this had originally been a duty reserved to Clara Clemens and/or Isabel Lyon.
July 25 Monday – In Tyringham, Mass. Sam wrote to Susan Crane.
July 25 Tuesday –Isabel Lyon’s journal: He spoke yesterday morning of the gradual shifting of portions of the earth’s surface. The infinitesimal disintegration of a mountain heavy as the Himalayas, and he made you see the thousands and thousands of years it would take, and the time—Oh, you didn’t see years, you just saw the solemn embodiment of time. Oh, so majesting, and you were down on your spirit knees worshipping. Oh, the divine flame, that blows here now—-now there.
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 25 Thursday – In Tuxedo Park, N.Y. Sam wrote a note on a small card to Dorothy Butes, who was sailing: “Miss Dorothy BUTES / Steamer CELTIC. / Goodbye you dear child, and a happy voyage.” [MTP]. Note: Lyon wrote on the verso, “The King was heart sick to have Dorothy sail away for England.” In her journal entry below, Lyon referred to the above message to Butes as a “wireless.” Likely this card survives but the telegram does not.
July 25 Saturday – Sam sent a brief note to Miss Dorothy Butes, who was sailing home to England: “Goodbye you dear child, and a happy voyage / SL Clemens” [MTAq 188].
Mary Desha wrote from Washington, D.C. anxious to “establish kinship” to Clemens through her great grandmother Katherine Montgomery. A photo of a woman is in the file [MTP].
Note: on the letter, but not by IVL: “ans’d 9/7”
John M. Howells wrote from Onteora Park, NY to Sam.
July 26 Tuesday – Jean Clemens’ 24 birthday.
In Tyringham, Mass. Sam wrote to daughter Clara, who had left Lee, Mass and gone to New York with Katy Leary to be treated for her nervous condition by Dr. Angenette Parry in N.Y.C.
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 26 Friday – Jean Clemens’ 27th birthday. Clemens A.D. for this day is listed by MTP.
Dr. Edward C. Rushmore attended to Sam; his bronchitis had worsened the day before upon reaching Tuxedo Park.
In Tuxedo Park, N.Y., Isabel V. Lyon wrote for Sam to Charles M. Fairbanks and Pauline M. Fairbanks in Brooklyn. Sam was home now and was “overwhelmed with mail,” and asked Isabel to write thanks for their message of welcome home [MTP].
July 26 Sunday – Jean Clemens’ 28th birthday.
Isabel Lyon’s journal: Today when the King and Sheba and Zoe [Mr. & Mrs. Zoheth Freeman] were driving and passed a cemetery, Sheba said that the King reverently lifted his hat from his beautiful head and after a moment Sheba reached over and touched his beautiful hand in sympathy.
July 26 Monday — Jean Clemens’ 29" birthday.
The New York Times, p. 1, “Taft’s Trip On Mississippi” reported that Mark Twain had been invited to pilot a steamer on the river when President Taft took a trip from St. Louis to New Orleans. Though the article referred to unnamed friends of Clemens saying he would probably accept the invitation due to his high regard for Taft, Sam’s health would not allow such a trip.