November 15 Friday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote to daughter Jean in Katonah, N.Y.  

November 16 Saturday – Alice Minnie Herts wrote to Miss Lyon the “final plan” for next Tuesday (19th) evening [MTP].

Julia Marlowe wrote on The Plaza, NYC notepaper to Sam. “I am eager you should see this reprint of an article by Arthur Symons which appeared in London…Do you not think it superbly written?”  [MTP].

November 17 Sunday – Rudolphine Scheffer Ely wrote from NYC to Sam inviting him to the opening meeting of the Civic Forum on Wednesday, Nov. 20 [MTP]. Note: Lyon wrote on the letter, “Mr. Clemens has engagement”

H.E. Wallace, Jr. wrote from NYC a letter of appreciation for “Huck and Jim” [MTP].

C.C. White wrote from Milford, Mass. to Miss Lyon, touched by the NAR segment with the death of Susy [MTP].

November 18 Monday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote to Frances Nunnally.

November 19 Tuesday – Sam gave a curtain speech at the P&P performance by the Children’s Educational Theatre, directed by Alice Minnie Herts. The New York Times, Nov. 20, p.9, reported on the event:  

UPTOWN AUDIENCE AT CHILDREN’S PLAY

Society Folk, as Mark Twain’s Guests, See “The Prince and the Pauper.”

——— ——— ———

HOST’S SPEECH CUT SHORT

Miss Herts, Founder of the Theatre, Says the Object is to Develop Latent Dramatic Talent.

November 20 Wednesday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: A reporter from the Brooklyn Eagle has been here. / Frederick Boyd Stevenson. So far the best man to represent the press. Mr. Clemens was willing to see him [MTP TS 120]. Note: F.B. Stevenson (1859-1938) retired in 1930 after editing and writing a Sunday column, “Top of the News” for the Eagle.  He was author of The Amalgamated Americans and a contributor to magazines of economics and political subjects. He specialized in national, international and civic affairs.

November 21 Thursday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam began a letter to Mary B. Rogers that he finished on Nov. 29.

Well, dear, you are a brilliant little rascal, & the flashes spurt up all along your sentence-wires, interval by interval, & if I had a mile-perspective on them I should think it was a trolley, blue- sparking its way down the distances——but

November 22 Friday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote a short note to Kate D. Riggs. “It was a noble feed & a noble company, and you are a dear. Heaven bless you! / MARK” [MTP: Nora Archibald Smith, Kate Douglas Wiggin as Her Sister Knew Her, 1925 p.139]. See Rigg’s Nov. 24 reply.

November 23 Saturday – Hamilton W. Mabie’s article, “Mark Twain the Humorist,” ran in Outlook (NY), p. 648-53. Tenney: “A general, admiring discussion of the man and his works, generally uncritical though noting the ephemeral quality of some of his writing. On p. 648, full- page photograph of MT” [44].

Joseph B. Gilder for Putnam’s Monthly wrote to Miss Lyon about Sam sitting for a portrait [MTP].

November 24 Sunday – Mary L. Brady wrote to thank Sam for the P&P play; she also praised Mrs. Fry and Miss Herts [MTP].

Richard Conried wrote from NYC to ask to include Clemens’ name on the list of patrons for their Jan. 7 Benefit Entertainment, Manhattan Trade School for Girls [MTP]. Note: Lyon wrote on the letter, “Use the name”

Kate Douglas Riggs wrote a verse in reply to Sam’s thanks for the “noble feed & noble company” note of Nov. 22 [MTP]. Note: see the poem in MTJ, 21:3 (Spring, 1983).

November 25 Monday – Julia Barnett Rice for the Society of Suppression of Noise wrote to Sam: “Dear Mr. Clemens / We both thank you—the small boy and I. /Gratefully yours…”  [MTP]. Note: Rice was crusading against fireworks that injured and killed many small boys each July.

November 26 Tuesday – Nelle R. Eberhart, Oscar Eberhart, Charles Wakefield Codman, and Blanche K. Knowlton wrote from Homestead Pa. to Editors of Harper’s. “We have just finished reading ‘Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven.’ / Give us more on the same plan. We have been reading advanced thought for fifteen years and rarely find much that is congenial in the magazines” [MTP].

John H. Johnston wrote to Sam.

November 27 Wednesday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam sent a telegram to Frances Nunnally, at St. Timothy’s School, Catonsville, Md: “I HOPE YOUR TEAM WILL WIN FRANCESCA DEAR I COULD NOT GO TO BOSTON” / SL CLEMENS” [MTP].

Sam also sent a telegram to Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Warfield, Governor of Maryland: “BEST THANKSGIVING WISHES TO YOU ALL, BY NO MEANS FORGETTING MISS LOUISE” [MTP].

November 28 Thursday – Thanksgiving – Sam lunched at H.H. Roger’s home where he likely saw Mary B. Rogers, and thought her “very delightful” [Nov. 29 to Mary Rogers; Dec. 1 to Jean]. He dined out in the evening and returned home at 11 p.m., with a neighbor (unspecified), played billiards until 4 a.m.

Helen Campbell wrote from Camden, NJ to beg a loan of $500 from Sam [MTP].

November 29 Friday – Sam finished his Nov. 21 to Mary B. Rogers.

Mariechen, I didn’t say sins, I said it covered a multitude of charms. And it is perfectly true. I wish you wouldn’t be always misquoting me & discouraging all my attempts to learn how to be veracious. For I do so want to learn how, dear.

I don’t know where you are but I am guessing that you are in Tuxedo. You were very delightful yesterday./ Affectionately / Your Uncle Mark [MTP].

November 30 Saturday – Sam’s 72nd Birthday. The New York Times, Dec. 1, p. 1, “Mark Twain 72” reported “Hundreds of congratulatory letters and telegrams were received during the day from points all over the world. Many friends called a the house to congratulate him.”

In N.Y.C. Sam inscribed an aphorism in a copy of Eve’s Diary to an unidentified person: “With the love of the Author. November 30, 1907. Clothes make the man, but they do not improve the Woman, Truly yours, Mark Twain.” [MTP].

December – Sometime during the month Sam attended a private dinner hosted by Daniel Frohman. At that dinner he met Elinor Sutherlin Glyn (Mrs. Clayton Glyn) (1864-1943), British novelist and scriptwriter, the sister of Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon. She led the way in erotic fiction for women, marketed to the masses, and had arrived that fall after the release of her first successful novel, Three Weeks (1907) which had been a hit in England.

December 1 Sunday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam replied to the Nov. 30 from Miss Florence Benson.

Dear Florence:

Thank you for your nice note.—

(Private.) I have always concealed it before, but now I am compelled to confess that I am Tom Sawyer!

 [MTP]. See Florence’s Nov. 30 letter.

Sam also wrote to daughter Jean.  

December 2 Monday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote to daughter Jean.

Dear Jean I will attend to the matter regarding translations, even if the pay be very small in money it will be large in entertainment for you & well worth the labor it will cost you.

December 3 Tuesday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote to W.H. Powell, editor of the Hannibal Courier-Post.

December 4 Wednesday – William B. McGann, who was President of the American Plasmon Co. to Apr. 30, 1906, wrote a salary claim to Sam, now acting President and Vice-President. The letter is not extant but is referred to in a New York Times article of Dec. 21, 1907, p. 6, (below).  Shortly after Dec. 4, Sam replied to McGann, his letter reprinted in the Dec. 21 article:

MARK TWAIN CONCERN GIVES UP THE GHOST

Plasmon Company of America Unable to Meet Obligations and Receiver is Named.

December 5 Thursday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote to Billie Burke, actress.

It was lovely of you, dear Billie, to say those approving & affectionate things to me out of the good heart & the sweet spirit which are special graces of your nature & they are very welcome.

It is healing & refreshment to the sui-sodden crime-worn soul to see you & John Drew in that bewitching play,—I am coming again to gloat & admire.

December 6 Friday – Thomas Commerford Martin for the Engineer’s Club wrote to Miss Lyon that he was sending his son and carriage for Clemens on Monday (Dec. 9) for the Carnegie’s 70th banquet, and according to sam’s wishes Martin would introduced him third on the program [MTP].

Joe Twichell wrote to Sam.

Dear Mark; / I am just setting out with Charley Clark for Buffalo, where we are to be on duty at a Yale Alumni Dinner tomorrow night.

December 7 Saturday – Eustace D. Conway, son of Moncure Conway, who had died in Paris on Nov. 15, sent Sam an invitation to the funeral service on Dec. 14 at 10:30 a.m.[MTP]. Note: Lyon wrote on the letter, “I’ll go to it”

Charles J. Langdon wrote from Elmira, N.Y. to Sam, enclosing a draft for $25 for a coupon of Atlanta Gas Light Co. He had rec’d no acknowledgement of his Nov. 6 draft for $137.50 [MTP].

December 8 Sunday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote a postcard (picturing himself in bed and labeled “Mark Twain’s Muse”) to Annie E. Trumbull. “I thank you dear Miss Annie, & wish you a happy holiday season” [MTP].