October – Possibly this month Sam wrote a poem to Mary B. Rogers (Mrs. H.H. Rogers, Jr.) [MTP].
BUTTER WANTED
Any Kind: New; Old; Salted; Unsalted;
===
Odorless; Fragrant; Real preferred, but Oleomargarine not turned away.
Apply at the old stand, 21 Fifth av., at the Sign of the Butterfly.
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CORRECTED FORM
October-December – Sometime during this period Sam wrote a short note to the editor of the St. Louis Republic: “May my namesake follow in my righteous footsteps, then neither of us will need any fire insurance” [MTB 1424]. Note: Sotheby’s auction Apr. 3, 2008 Lot 29 sold this note and commented: “In 1907 a new boat was built for the St. Louis Harbor and christened ‘Mark Twain.’ The editor of a local paper wrote to Clemens and asked for a comment.”
October 1 Tuesday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: Last night I stayed awake waiting for the King to come home, and full of anxiety until he did.
I am purged of anxieties, purged of discontents and I think it may be in part the exodus of Delia.
October 2 Wednesday – In Tuxedo Park, N.Y. Isabel V. Lyon replied for Sam on Edward Anthony’s Sept. 29: “Mr. C[lemens asks me to] write for him and say that he has given all the cigar bands from his imported cigars to a little friend who asked for them; and he regrets that he has none” [MTP].
Sam also began a letter to Dorothy Quick that he finished on Oct.3.
October 3 Thursday – In Tuxedo Park, N.Y. Sam finished his Oct. 2 to Dorothy Quick.
Last night we played “hearts”—a very good game, I think, because it is simple, & doesn’t require any mental labor. I wish we had thought of it when you were here. But next time we’ll play it. It is more interesting than those other games.
October 3 or 10, 1907 Saturday
October 3 or 10 Saturday – In Tuxedo Park, N.Y. Sam wrote to Frederick A. Duneka that proofs for A Horse’s Tale be sent to Tuxedo Park before Oct. 17 or to 21 Fifth Ave. after Nov. 3 would get his “immediate attention.” He wanted to “sit in judgment” on the illustrations before they were accepted. Sam confessed that “the heroine is my small daughter Susy, whom we lost” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote the 17,530-word story after Sept. 1905 from a suggestion of Minnie Maddern Fiske. Harper’s Magazine published the tale in two installments, Aug.-Sept.
October 4 Friday – In Tuxedo Park, N.Y. Sam wrote a great spoof to William Dean Howells, and sent the same note to daughter Jean (perhaps the first part of the letter is lost).
Jean dear it is an outrage the way the govment is acting so I am sending following complaint to N. Y. Times with Howels name signed because it will have more weight:
P. S.
To the Editor
October 5 Saturday – In Tuxedo Park, N.Y. Isabel V. Lyon replied for Sam to the Oct. 4th from Katharine B. Clemens (Mrs. James Ross Clemens), now in N.Y.C. Yes, Sam had rec’d the photographs of Katharine’s “two charming little children”; Lyon had written her thanks, and they’d waited for them until the last train “on that Saturday.”
October 6 Sunday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: This afternoon when the Masons were here for tea and the subject of Geography came up, the King said that he had no sense of it himself, and that when they were living in the Villa Viviani, Oscar Wilde’s little wife went out to call and to ask the best way to get back to England, the King said he gave her instructions which if she had followed would have landed her in China. Chat seemed to drivel along until the King said to Mrs. Mason who is a Christian Scientist and who has been planning a debate with the King —“Well, Mrs.
October 7 Monday – Isabel Lyon wrote to Dorothy Quick [MTAq 75-6].
Isabel Lyon’s journal: “Ashcroft went at 8:15 and I went to N.Y. to see about getting the house in order for C.C.” [MTP TS 113].
Howells & Stokes wrote to Miss Lyon requesting a new check be drawn in the name of William Webb Sunderland since both Howells and Stokes were out of town [MTP].
Charles J. Langdon wrote a short note, enclosing draft for $44.33 on the Buffalo property [MTP].
October 8 Tuesday – In Tuxedo Park, N.Y. Sam wrote to daughter Jean in Katonah, N.Y.
Jean dear, I hear that Dr. [Frederick] Peterson is exceedingly well pleased with your year’s progress, & certainly I am. It is a wonderful advance. How fortunate it was that fortune put you into his hands. He expects this improvement to go right along.
October 9 Wednesday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: “King and I went to N.Y. on the 8:15. He dined with Mr. Jim Clemens and Mr. Brent Clemens at Delmonicoes” [MTP TS 113].
John J. Craven wrote from Phila. to thank Sam for Lyon’s letter of Oct. 8 with signed photo [MTP].
October 10 Thursday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: Headache. / Mr. and Mrs. Deacon, Father Fitz [William Fitz-Simon], Mr. and Miss Sampson dined here and all day I was so ill, but I wouldn’t give in. I saw Mr. Willing who has charge of the syndicating of the autobiography; Mr. Ashcroft arrived at 3 o’clock; I secured a notary public to come out with the Plasheon lawyers who came at 5:30. I superintended the decorating of the dinner table. I gave the King all of my presence that he required, I played Hearts for an hour, just as I was going up to lie down for that hour.
October 11 Friday – In Tuxedo Park, N.Y. Sam replied to the Oct. 7 from Mary B. Rogers (Mrs. H.H. Rogers, Jr.).
Mariechen dear, Flower of Nieces, it was my purpose to thank you for your letter in person, but the court had a more different story about it, & it forbade Fairhaven, & furnished me a couple of days’ testifying to do.
October 12 Saturday – In Tuxedo Park, N.Y. Sam inscribed a copy of JA to Frances E. Greville: “To / The Countess of Warwick / with the warm regards of / her latest & most / devoted admirer / Mark Twain / Tuxedo Park, N.Y. / October 12, 1907.” [MTP]. Note: see IVL below.
Isabel Lyon’s journal: (Clipping here) / Miss Dix of 57 West 57 St. will entertain the Countess of Warwick and S.L. Clemens today at luncheon at Delmonicoes. / (June 1937—nearly 30 years later, and I am giving the clipping to Eulabee Dix) [MTP TS 114].
October 13 Sunday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: All day except when we went to Mrs. Hoyt’s for luncheon we have been playing Hearts and using Coffee beans for counters. Ashcroft makes a pleasant, bright, considerate and properly appreciative third hand. The King won everything, with occasional streaks of very bad luck, and on one occasion when he picked up a bad hand he said, “This would be a hell of a hand even in the Kingdom of Heaven.” He is so sweet and winsome to play with, and shouts with delight when I pile Hearts upon Mr.
October 14 Monday – Isabel Lyon’s journal:
October 15 Tuesday – In Tuxedo Park, N.Y. Sam wrote to Theodore A. Bingham.
Dear Bingham: / Here is a far-wandering breath from over the fields of Long Ago. Ten days ago we found this letter among relics & mementoes of Susy & her Mother. It is from Susy to her Mother. It was an eager message out of a beating heart then; it is compliment, affection & gratitude uttered from the grave, now.
Yours sincerely
S. L. Clemens
October 16 Wednesday – The New York Times, Oct. 17, p.18, ran an article about humor in Ashcroft v. Hammond libel case, and a deposition of Sam’s read in court this day:
SWORN JEST BY MARK TWAIN.
———
Humorist Says He First Met John Hays Hammond in Jail—Ashcroft’s Suit.
October 17 Thursday – In Tuxedo Park, N.Y. Sam wrote a short note of recommendation for Mrs. Frances A. Ramsay as a stenographer “To whom it may concern”: I take the pleasure in saying that as a stenographer I found Mrs Ramsay competent & in all ways satisfactory” [MTP].
October 18 Friday – Joseph B. Gilder for Putnam’s Monthly wrote to again request Sam allow their sketch artist to draw Sam for the magazine; they’d done Choate and Howells; the artist didn’t require Clemens to sit but could walk around the room [MTP].
October 19 Saturday – In Tuxedo Park, N.Y. Sam wrote to Dorothy Quick in Plainfield, N.J.
October 20 Sunday – Alice Minnie Herts wrote for the Children’s Theatre to Miss Lyon, correcting a prior invitation [MTP]. Note: Lyon wrote on the letter, “Answd. Oct. 23”
October 21 Monday – A run on the Knickerbocker Trust Co. bank in N.Y.C. caused panic elsewhere, and the bank was forced to close its doors the next day. Sam had deposits of about $51,000 at the bank. J.P. Morgan would gain the help of fellow bankers, including John D. Rockefeller, to raise funds and import $100,000,000 in gold from Europe to restore confidence. See Oct. 22. H.H. Rogers and Katharine Harrison had originally recommended the Knickerbocker Trust Co. to Sam. A business slowdown from the resulting spreading panic lasted for months.
October 22 Tuesday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: Oh, it’s too dreadful. Every penny the King has, fifty one thousand dollars, is in the Knickerbocker Trust Co. and it has suspended payment. It has gone crashing into a terrible state. I was in town and read of the panic in the Times, and Ashcroft and I went to the bank, at 30th st and Fifth Avenue to see crowds of people there, with bank books in their quivering hands. And then I came back to Tuxedo to find the King in bed and so cheerful and beautiful and brave, and trying not to show his anxiety.