The Man in the White Suit: Day By Day

February 18 Tuesday – Sam’s A.D. of Feb. 19 discloses his activities for the day and evening:

Yesterday I spent two pleasant and exciting hours witnessing a Ben Johnson masque performed at the Plaza hotel by about twenty young and attractive creatures of the two sexes, and it was wonder for rich and beautiful costumes, for excellent singing, and for acting which I had not seen approached before by amateurs. I dined out in the evening at the Doubledays’; and went from there to the Guinnesses, in Washington Square. By eleven a great throng had gathered.

February 19 Wednesday – In the evening Sam attended the Pilgrim’s Club Dinner at Delmonico’s in honor of Ambassador to England, Whitelaw Reid. The New York Times, Feb. 20, p. 3 reported:

AMBASSADOR REID THE PILGRIM’S GUEST

Tells Them Talk of War with Japan is Silly and That England Wouldn’t Aid Her.

——— ——— ———

CHEER KING AND PRESIDENT

Ex-ambassador Choate Presides In President Duncan’s Absence—Mark Twain Speaks.

February 20 Thursday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote to Dorothy Quick in Plainfield, N.J.

Wednesday An hour after Midnight

I got your dear Valentine, which I prize, & today I got your letter, & I thank you for it. And you didn’t take a single prize! Oh, you dear little rat, it was a shame, & I am sorry. Clara was very busy, or she would have sent you a Valentine. She is grieving, now, because she forgot it.

February 21 Friday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote a letter of introduction to Albert Bigelow Paine for Joe Goodman [MTP: Am. Art Assoc-Anderson Galleries catalogs, 11-12 Nov. 1937, No. 4346, Item 88]. Note: Paine would travel in the West gathering information for the Mark Twain biography.

February 22 Saturday – Sam, Isabel V. Lyon, H.H. Rogers, and William Evarts Benjamin sailed again for Bermuda. Rogers brought along his valet. Lyon noted in her journal that “Mr. Rogers came feebly onto the boat, a sick sick man” [MTHHR 645n1; D. Hoffman 102].

In his A.D. of Feb. 19, Sam had said:

February 23 Sunday – A somewhat longer article on H.H. Rogers and Twain leaving for Bermuda ran on the front page of the New York Times.

ROGERS AND TWAIN SAIL

———

Exchanging Jests on the Pier—Financier Thinks the Outlook Bright.

“This is what I get for being in bad company,” said Mark Twain, humorist, pointing to H. H. Rogers, financier, when a host of interviewers descended upon him yesterday morning on the deck of the steamship Bermudian, previous to their departure for Bermuda.

February 24 Monday – The Clemens party arrived in Bermuda and Sam checked into the Princess Hotel in Hamilton, Bermuda where he wrote two postcards to Frances Nunnally.

Francesca dear, I got your letter just as I was leaving New York—thank you dear.

I am writing now because I suppose that the linchpin got lost in the mails; & if that is so, I want you to drop me a line here, so that I can replace it with another.

February 25 Tuesday – In Bermuda, Sam made another excursion in the donkey cart, this time to Spanish Point with Irene Gerken. Reginald handled the donkey as before, while Isabel Lyon, Elizabeth Wallace, and William Benjamin all walked. H.H. Rogers did not go [D. Hoffman 105]. See Lyon’s entry below:

February 26 Wednesday – At 21 Fifth Ave. NY, Isabel Lyon telephoned Albert Bigelow Paine after discovering some missing older letters of Clemens’. Isabel Lyon’s diary:

Tino [a nickname for Paine] in Redding…to ask about letters that I am missing and that the King and Santa [Clara] would hold me responsible for. He was cross and answered in a burst of ill temper that he had many letters and would take them when he wanted to. This is not quite right of Tino—and is a new and regrettable attitude [Hill 201].

February 27 Thursday – In Bermuda, the Clemens party was entertained by a baseball game [D. Hoffman 105].

Isabel Lyon’s journal: Ball game today / I turn on the practical faucet & suggest a publisher. This apropos to Miss W’s [Wallace’s] charming ms. reminiscent of her life in France. She’s been reading it to me on the porch & I went off to find the King just arrived from a trip to town with Mr. Rogers. St. Simeon Slylites—or Skylights—[MTP: IVL TS 27-28].

February 28 Friday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: There was a cold & tearing wind all day, so that when the Trinidad finally got in after lying to anchor outside the harbor, her smoke stacks were white with brine, & her few passengers looked wearily shaken. This morning Sorellatua & I went to a quaint little Belgian woman who has brought a quantity of lovely lace here for sale. The King drives out, & he walks out, & he is gay & young & full of a new and splendid life. Mr.

February 29 Saturday – At the Princess Hotel in Hamilton, Bermuda Sam began a letter to daughter  Clara that he added a PS to on Mar. 2.  

March – Burr McIntosh Monthly (NY) ran a portrait of Twain and daughter Clara, p. 57-8,. Tenney: “Accompanying text states that MT had approximately $50,000 on deposit at the Knickerbocker Trust Company in New York at the time of the crash; he opposed establishing a permanent receivership on the grounds that it would be as expensive to maintain as a harem: ‘Anybody who has had experience in this line will endorse my statement’” [45].

March 1 Sunday – In Bermuda, the Clemens party took an excursion to see the new island aquarium, which had opened on Jan. 1, 1908. D. Hoffman gives “the effervescent and obliging U.S. consul,” W. Maxwell Greene as organizer of the trip, and writes: Goodwin Gosling, secretary to the Bermuda Natural History Society, also came aboard….

March 2 Monday – At the Princess Hotel in Hamilton, Bermuda Sam added a PS to his Feb. 29 letter to daughter Clara: “P.S. Monday Eve. Your letter has arrived, with its gratifying news. The Oswego incident is worth a dozen word-compliments.”  

Sam also replied to the Feb. 28 from Margaret Blackmer at The Misses Tewksbury’s School, Irvington-on-Hudson, N.Y.

Dear Margaret:

March 3 Tuesday – Sometime during the Bermuda stay with H.H. Rogers, Elizabeth Wallace recorded her impression of Rogers and the interaction between Clemens and Rogers during card games:

March 4 Wednesday – Dorothy Butes wrote from London to Sam.

Dear Dr. Clemens. / Your crimes follow you! In geography, the other day, the Professor said that at a little inn in Germany, where he stayed, in the guest register he had to put down, his name & profession, & just above his name was that of “S.L. Clemens, Profession, Mark Twain”!!

March 5 Thursday – Sam appeared on stage at the Princess Hotel ballroom, for the benefit of the Cottage Hospital. He told the story of the “three-dollar dog,” which he had related in his A.D. of Oct. 3, 1907. See entry; also see D. Hoffman p.110-114 for the full tale. Hoffman writes:  

March 6 Friday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: This morning we had been gaily photographing the King and Irene, in and out of the donkey cart, and they went to the billiard room to be photographed there by a German whose name is uncatchable. I followed by and by to tell the King that the “battery” was waiting to move and looking through the window into the billiard room as I passed along the porch, I saw the King, pale as death, leaning over the table, and the young German rubbing the back of his head. “Do you feel better now?” I heard him say.

March 7 Saturday – The Royal Gazette of Hamilton, Bermuda noted the regular appearance of Sam and H.H. Rogers on Front Street. Quoted and summarized by D. Hoffman:

March 8 Sunday – The New York Times, page 12, ran “Knickerbocker Will Open On March 26,” which announced the reopening of Sam’s bank where he had over $51,000 in deposits. The Knickerbocker Trust Co. bank had suffered a run by frantic depositors and was forced to close shortly after noon on Oct. 2, 1907. It’s likely that Sam received the good news by this day or the next.

(signed) Finlayson:

H.W. Finlayson wrote from Grassy Bay, Bermuda to Sam (John Gay, Capt. Of Cressy; also

March 9 Monday – Howells & Stokes wrote to Sam, enclosing a bill for $2,952.69 for William Webb Sunderland, the 7th payment in his contract [MTP].

March 10 Tuesday – At the invitation of ship’s captain, John Gay, Sam spent much of the day aboard a British Cruiser, the HMS Cressy, enjoying laughter and stories in the Officers’ Mess [Mar. 12 to Quick]. William Evarts Benjamin accompanied him. The Cressy was one of three warships anchored at the Dockyard, Ireland Island, Sandys Parish [D. Hoffman 115-16]. Note: since he did not mention his time aboard ship in the following three letters, they were likely written in the a.m. before boarding. Sam would mention this time aboard the ship to Dorothy Quick in his Mar.

March 11 Wednesday – Sam attended a garden party at the Governor J.H. Wodehouse’s house and enjoyed music by a British band, which he called the “best band in the British army save one—the Horseguards” [Mar. 12 to Quick]. Note: if IVL’s lined out phrase for this date means anything, Benjamin went with him.

March 12 Thursday – At the Princess Hotel in Hamilton, Bermuda Sam began a letter to Dorothy Quick that he added to on Mar. 13, and 16. Sam relates activities of this day, as well as time spent on Mar. 10 and 11.

My poor little Dorothy, I hope you are well again, & will write a line & tell me so. I wish you were here—you would be on your feet right away.

We are to be here about 20 days yet. We sail for New York April 1.