Summer – Sometime during the summer of 1908, Clemens drafted his Constitution for the Angelfish. It follows:
THE AQUARIUM
Issued By THE ADMIRAL
INNOCENCE AT HOME REDDING, CONN. SUMMER-TIME 1908
Qualifications for Membership
Sincerity, good disposition, intelligence, & school-girl age.
Secrets of the Order
Members of the Aquarium are forbidden to divulge its affairs to any but their parents & guardians.
June 2 Tuesday – Sam left the Harvey residence in Deal, N.J. and returned home to New York at noon. Before leaving, he settled on the name “Innocence at Home” for the new home in Redding [June 3 to Clara].
At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote to Dorothy Sturgis.
I am just back this moment, & find yours of May 27. I have been down in Jersey eight days, visiting around among my angel-fishes of that region, & have had a very good time indeed.
June 3 Wednesday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote to daughter Clara.
Well, Clärchen dear, I have your dear letter from ship board saying what fine shape you are in: also there are cablegrams whereby we know you sang twice last Saturday; & now I am waiting for particulars by mail. It seems a good while to wait, too.
June 4 Thursday – Frederick A. Duneka for Harper & Brothers wrote offering a rather humorous reply to Twain’s of the previous day:
June 5 Friday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote to daughter Jean, at Eastern Point in Gloucester, Mass.
Dear Jean, consound the well-intending dog! And certainly he had good intentions, & a heroic spirit. The great big majority of our race are away below him in this regard, & not worthy to untie his shoe-latchets.
Miss Lyon is slaving away at the new house, getting it ready. She will make an admirable job of it if she survives.
June 6 Saturday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote to Frances Nunnally.
You are a very dear & sweet Francesca to answer so promptly, & you so heavy-laden with work, you poor little chap! But soon you’ll be at sea, & that will be fine & restful. I wish I could go with you.
June 7 Sunday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote to Ebenezer J. Hill, postmaster, N.Y. A draft plus a signed letter survive.
June 8 Monday – Clara Clemens’ 34th birthday. Clara was in London on tour.
William Fitz-Simon wrote from Tuxedo Park, NY to Sam.
June 9 Tuesday – Malcolm D. Graham wrote from Hamilton, Bermuda to Sam. “I am indeed glad to have traded the owner of the shell, and am returning it to you by the mail under registered cover & trust it will duly reach you.” He also discussed Bermuda’s weather [MTP]. Note: the “identification” shell was from Helen Blackmer; See May 25 to Graham.
June 10 Wednesday – Dorothy Sturgis wrote from Woodstock, Vt. on Woodstock Inn stationery:
My dear Mr. Clemens.
June 11 Thursday – Dorothy Quick wrote to Sam.
My dear Mr Clemens
I received your letter just before I left I’m so sorry you could not have come out to commencement but I must confess I felt very much disappointed I wanted to show you my school and all my friends. Claire took the rabbits I think I can trust her
June 12 Friday – Charles Hinckley Baker (b. 1864) wrote to Sam, sending his new book Life and Character of William Taylor Baker, President of the World’s Columbian Exposition and of the Chicago Board of Trade, by His Son (1908). Baker inscribed the book: “To Mr. Samuel L. Clemens / ‘Mark Twain’ / with the compliments and good / wishes of the author / Charles H. Baker / June 12th 1908.” Sam wrote on the front pastedown endpaper, “A valuable book, & capably constructed. A tribute from a son to his father which does honor to both. SLC June/08” [Gribben 40; MTP].
June 13 Saturday – G.E. Stechert & Co., books, NYC wrote to Sam.
June 14 Sunday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam replied to daughter Jean (incoming not extant) at Eastern Point in Gloucester, Mass. He was planning a visit to Gloucester.
The time is drawing near, dear Jean, & I shall be glad to start. Miss Lyon has been hard at work up there among the workman for the past 3 days, & it is now almost definitely settled that next Thursday is my date for moving into the house. There has been a whole world of work to do, but I have escaped it all from the start (a year ago) to the finish.
June 15 Monday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam replied to the June 14 from Lilian W. Aldrich.
June 16 Tuesday – Ferris Greenslet for the Aldrich Memorial Museum wrote to Sam about his train connections from Boston to Portsmouth on June 30—even the 10 o’clock train would suffice [MTP].
June 17 Wednesday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam inscribed a copy of LM to Commander Daniel Dow (1860-1931): “Very truly yours / Mark Twain / To Commander Dow, R.N.R. / June 17/08” [MTP]. Note: this from a message board posted by Dow’s grandson, Michael Dow, in 2004:
June 18 Thursday – The History of Redding website notes that Sam arrived at the West Redding Train Station shortly before 6 p.m on the Berkshire Express out of New York. The train made a special stop for Twain and thereafter continued the stop for his many visitors.
June 18-August 31 – Sometime during this period in Redding, Conn. Sam wrote to Margaret Blackmer about a humorous exchange with a supposed lookalike.
June 19 Friday – In Redding, Conn. Sam wrote to Dorothy Quick:
Oh, this will never do! You are having altogether too good a time, you little rascal (because I am not in it.) Still, I’m glad. I mustn’t break into it now, but I’ll have to do it before long; you & your mother will have to pay me a visit here. I want you; & I want my other angel-fishes. I must have a couple of them under this roof all the time, from now until January. There will be 2 under it to-morrow, to stay a week, I hope.
June 20 Saturday – In the morning in Redding, Conn. Sam wrote to daughter Clara, now in London.
June 21 Sunday – The photograph of Clemens playing cards with Dorothy Harvey and her friend Pauline Martin, and Louise Paine was likely taken this day, the day after their arrival at Stormfield [MT Journal Spring/Fall 2006 p. 25].
The New York Times, p. C2 under “Nearly 10,000 Guests Bidden to Windsor,” ran a final paragraph about Clara Clemens:
June 22 Monday – In Redding, Conn., Isabel Lyon wrote for Sam to Dorothy Quick.
Dear Dorothy: / Mr. Clemens has just left for town, & he asks me to invite your mother & you to come up here on Thursday the second leaving N. Y. Central on the 4:15 train M for Redding. Mr. Clemens & Mr. Paine will be on the same train. Please do not disappoint Mr. Clemens. He sends you much love, & to your mother too. / Yours Ever / I. V. Lyon [MTP].
June 23 Tuesday – John J. McCowan for the Actors Society of America wrote from NYC. He planned to enter vaudeville dressed up as Mark Twain, if Clemens had no objection [MTP]. Note: IVL: “Answd / June 29, 08; Please refer him to Miss Elizabeth Marbury 1430 Broadway”
Mr. & Mrs. Whitelaw Reid sent an engraved invitation to the wedding of his daughter Jean Reid to John Hubert Ward on June 23 at Dorchester House [MTP].
June 24 Wednesday – In Princeton, N.J.. ex-president Grover Cleveland succumbed to a heart attack. His last words were, “I tried so hard to do right.” Sam consistenly held the man in high esteem, and wrote condolences to Cleveland’s widow on June 25.
Alice Minnie Herts for the Children’s Educational Theatre wrote to Sam announcing their move and asking for “a good picture of yourself” [MTP]. Note: IVL: “Answd/ June 29, 08 / Say, yes. For her to get the photo & Mr. Clemens will present it. Mr. C. is in his country home”