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:
The Man in the White Suit: Day By Day
March 5 Friday — In Redding, Conn. Sam began a postcard to Dorothy Quick, which he lost in his table drawer and which he then found and finished on Mar. 31.
March 6 Monday – At 21 Fifth Ave. in N.Y.C. Sam replied to Ernest C. Hales’ Feb. 21:
I thank you very much for what you say. Just as I was about to comply with your request in the formal and customary fashion, this old letter fell out of an old book, and I thought you might prefer it.
It is the original—a typewritten copy went to the man on the other end—Dr. Sill (I think that is the name) inventor of Osteopathy, Kirksville, Missouri [MTP: Cyril Clemens’ Mark Twain: The Letter Writer, 1932, p.104].
March 6 Tuesday – At 21 Fifth Ave., N.Y. Sam wrote to Grover Cleveland.
Grover Cleveland, Esq.
Ex-President.
Honored Sir:
March 6 Wednesday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: Letter from Isabel F. Hapgood.
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 6 Saturday — In Redding, Conn. an unidentified person wrote for Clemens to Harry A. Lounsbury.
Dear Mr. Lounsbury : / Mr, Clemens, who is, as you know, very satisfied with the manner in which you have attended to his needs in the past, wishes me, however, to call your attention to the following matters:
March 6 Sunday — In Hamilton, Bermuda Sam wrote a humorous receipt for Miss Helen S. Allen.
Received of S. L. C.
Two Dollars and Forty Cents
in return for my promise to believe everything he says hereafter.
[signed] Helen S. Allen
[verso] For Sale
March 7 Tuesday – At 21 Fifth Ave. in N.Y.C. Sam wrote to Beatrice M. Benjamin.
Thank you for remembering to send me the questions. At first glance they look formidable, for young girls (& their elders); but upon examination one finds them to be simple, direct, distinctly outlined, & not formidable—in a word, well devised, a difficult job competently performed. A definite question is a suggestive & stimulating text to talk to, a vague & indefinite one is an invitation to you to make snowballs out of fog—an industry which has its embarrassments.
March 7 Wednesday – At 21 Fifth Ave., N.Y. Isabel V. Lyon wrote for Sam to Robert K. Mackey, who was seeking autographs for his son’s set of Mark Twain books. Lyon wrote that if Mackey would leave the first volume Mr. Clemens would autograph it for him [MTP].
Sam also wrote to John F. Tremain of the Chemung County Society who had written on Dec. 9 conferring upon Mark Twain honorary membership in their society and inviting him to dine with them on Mar. 29. Sam thanked him for both but declined to attend due to other engagements [MTP].
Sam also wrote to John F. Tremain of the Chemung County Society who had written on Dec. 9 conferring upon Mark Twain honorary membership in their society and inviting him to dine with them on Mar. 29. Sam thanked him for both but declined to attend due to other engagements [MTP].
March 7 Thursday – Sam did not attend the memorial meeting for the late Ernest Howard Crosby, one of the founders of the Social Reform Club, but sent a letter (not extant), as did a few other luminaries. Sam was listed in the Feb. 23 NY Times article as being among those in charge of the meeting in Cooper Union [NY Times, Mar. 8, p.2 “Honor Crosby’s Memory”].
Franklin and Harriet Whitmore came for a three-day stay with Sam [Mar. 12 to Clara; Hill 165; IVL TS 32].
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 Wednesday – Isabel Lyon’s journal:
Today Mr. Coburn called and brought some very wonderful photographs. George Meredith, Andrew Lang, Mrs. Ward, Edmund Gosse and many others. He brought some landscapes too, and when I showed one of some mighty trees to Mr. Clemens, at first he couldn’t make out the subject and when I told him what it was he said, “I thought it was the dinosaurus coming down town.”
March 8 Thursday – At 21 Fifth Ave., N.Y. Sam added to his Mar. 4 to Gertrude Natkin. He would finish the letter on Mar. 9
Marjorie, I’ve got the words! The words That rhyme. The rest is easy, because No. 3 doesn’t have to rhyme with anything. Observe:
Thursday afternoon.
===
TO THAT BONNY CHILD, MARJORIE.
Marjorie, Marjorie, listen to me—
Listen, you winsome witch:
Whomever you bless with your innocent love,
That person is passing rich.
===
Marjorie, I’ve got the words! The words That rhyme. The rest is easy, because No. 3 doesn’t have to rhyme with anything. Observe:
Thursday afternoon.
===
TO THAT BONNY CHILD, MARJORIE.
Marjorie, Marjorie, listen to me—
Listen, you winsome witch:
Whomever you bless with your innocent love,
That person is passing rich.
===
March 8 Friday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: Mr. & Mrs. Gilder were here for luncheon today, & the chat was pleasant. The talk after luncheon fell on the Shelly Keats Memorial & the part Mr. Clemens took in it & Mrs. Whitmore asked him to read Rabbi Ben Ezra to us—which he did.
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 8 Monday — In Redding, Conn. Sam wrote to Margery H. Clinton.
March 8 Tuesday — In Hamilton, Bermuda Sam wrote to Dorothy Quick. Text not available [MTP].
Albert B. Paine wrote to Sam. (Only the envelope survives) [MTP].
March 8-11 Sunday – During this period Sam replied to Ernest Carson Hunt (incoming not extant) that he had never written a book entitled, “How to be a gentleman” [MTP].
March 9 Thursday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: Tonight Mr. Gilder and Dorothea dined here. Dorothea looked very sweet in a little marquise bodice, brilliantly charmingly flowered. She left early to go to a concert but Mr. Gilder stayed on and was very interesting in his talk about Roosevelt as a reader, and as a man with a phenominal [sic] memory. Only as a politician is he not admirable [MTP: TS 43].
Philip Cabot wrote for Henry Copley Greene to Miss Lyon, acknowledging the signed leases from Clemens, and returning one signed copy for Sam’s files [MTP].
March 9 Friday – At 21 Fifth Ave., N.Y. Sam added to his Mar. 4 and Mar. 8 to Gertrude Natkin, who had telephoned him, perhaps before he completed the letter [Natkin Mar. 10]. Friday.
I knew I could do it, dear. By going without rest or food for a day & a night I have compressed the proper work of months into a single cataclysmal explosion. And so as you see, it is finished:
Rich, though he have not a grain of gold
Save that which is in his mouth,
Rich, though his silver be all on his head
And crusts for his craw be all his bread
I knew I could do it, dear. By going without rest or food for a day & a night I have compressed the proper work of months into a single cataclysmal explosion. And so as you see, it is finished:
Rich, though he have not a grain of gold
Save that which is in his mouth,
Rich, though his silver be all on his head
And crusts for his craw be all his bread
March 9 Saturday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: Yesterday came a letter from AB containing a beautiful tribute to the King. I’ll keep it right here. The King was sweetly moved by it. He lies in bed a lot these days when he isn’t flitting around the billiard table. He played all the afternoon, or much of it after Mr. Stanchfield who had been lunching here left us. This morning I sat in the King’s dressing room while he shaved, & went over the batch of mail there.
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 9 Tuesday— In Redding, Conn. Sam added to and finished his Mar. 8 to Mary B. Rogers:
Next Day—which is to-day, the 9th Letter from H. H., trying hard to say he hasn’t any room, but will refer the matter to Mrs. Rogers, I know what that means: he is going to raise the price. He thinks I can’t help myself—can’t get in elsewhere, But I can: I’ve already arranged it, conditionally.
March 9 Wednesday — David Alexander Munro, age 66, assistant editor of the North American Review under Col. Harvey, died in NYC after a seven-week illness. Munro was also a Greek scholar [NY Times, Mar. 10, 1910, “David A. Munro Dead”]. See entries Vol. III.
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