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.
March 13 Friday – At the Princess Hotel in Hamilton, Bermuda Sam added to his Mar. 12 to Dorothy Quick.
Friday, 9 p.m. This has been a lovely summer day, very brilliant & not uncomfortably warm. If you would only come, you could stop those deadly medicines & soon get well.
The ball has begun, & I think I will go down & look on.
March 14 Saturday – At the Princess Hotel in Hamilton, Bermuda Sam began a letter to Frances Nunnally that he added a PS to on Mar. 16.
I was very glad to get your letter, Francesca dear, & also glad that you all escaped uninjured from the fire. But I hope you won’t be subjected to any more risks of that kind.
March 15 Sunday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: The Yoke—Hubert Wales. / We lunched with Mrs. Peck today and had some wonderful Bermudian Pepperpot. The heart of it was a chicken and it had strange spices and pepper corns. It came on the table in what is called a buck kettle— a big black heavy old kettle, full of the flavor of many pepperpots.
March 16 Monday – At the Princess Hotel in Hamilton, Bermuda Sam finished his Mar. 12 and 13 to Dorothy Quick.
March 16. The Bermudian has arrived, with / 60 bags of mail & 250 passengers. She sails to- morrow.
We don’t sail April 1. We have postponed to April 11. I am sorry, but Mr. Rogers is improving ever so fast, & we want him to stay as long as he will. Bermuda is better than four or five or six million doctors. Don’t you forget that, dear. / With lots of love [MTP].
March 17 Tuesday – Howells & Stokes sent another typed advisory about the Redding house under construction, specifically the wainscoting in the various bathrooms [MTP].
March 18 Wednesday – Elisabeth Marbury wrote to Sam, enclosing their readers’ criticism of the JA play produced by John W. Postgate [MTP].
The New York Times, p. 7 “Great Men’s Letters Sold at Auction” reported that three letters from Mark Twain sold for greater amounts than those from Theodore Roosevelt, William Jennings Bryan, Andrew Carnegie, and others.
March 19 Thursday – Irene Gerken wrote her typical no-periods note to Sam. “I received your letter this evening and was very glad to hear from you you say you are lonesome Why I should think Miss Allen would fill my place Allthough I am far away I hear all the news. By the score you sent me of the cards I see Mr Rodgers has lost every game I am very glad that you had a good time at the War ship and if I had knowen you were there I might of seen you.” She asked after Maud and Reginald [MTP].
March 20 Friday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: We went to the Hastings for tea today at four o’clock, It was assembled out on the beautiful point, and though there were a lot of people there, our own clan was the dearest. The others gave us no thrills. The King and I drove over with Mr. and Mrs. Rogers, the Rajah on the box, (Betsy is naughty—she says Mrs. Rogers could be called a Eunuch because she is the Rajah’s manager.) and after the tea and the sandwiches we drove around to the North Shore, and got out to look down a cliff side into the water 100 feet below.
March 21 Saturday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: Such a wonderful day we have had, for Mrs. Rogers organized a party to go to Somerset, 12 miles away and to lunch there. We set out at eleven; Mr. and Mrs. Rogers, Mr. and Mrs. [Zoheth] Freeman, the King, Mr. Weir, Mrs. Peck, Mrs. [Marion Schuyler] Allen, Mr. John Wayland, Elizabeth [Wallace] and I.