April 5 Monday — In the evening Sam sailed for New York City, where he evidently stayed two days before continuing on to Redding, Conn. [Mar. 28 to Nunnally].
The Norfolk LEDGER-DISPATCH reported Sam’s presence in Norfolk on this day:
MARK TWAIN DELIGHTED THE LITTLE ONES
Famous Humorist at the City Kindergarten and the High School
TOTS GIVE HIM A DOSE OF HIS OWN MEDICINE
April 6 Thursday – Sam conferred with H.H. Rogers about the MS of an article by journalist Isaac Frederick Marcosson about Rogers [Gribben 479: Lyon’s Journal, no TS given]. Note: Sam had read the MS on Apr. 5. He would discuss the article with Mocasson on Apr. 7. See Boewe.
April 6 Friday – In N.Y.C. Isabel V. Lyon wrote for Sam to Mary E. Bell: “When Mr. C. came home from the theatre he wrote this sentence hoping it might be made useful among her other testimonials Re—Mrs. Bell” [MTP]. Note: evidently Bell had performed on stage.
Sam also replied to John Greenall in Leeds, England who had written Mar. 27:
April 6 Saturday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam inscribed an aphorism in a copy of JA to Helen Fulton: “To / Miss Helen Fulton / with the respectful salutations / of the Author. On the whole it is better to deserve honors & not have them, than to have them & not deserve them. / Truly Yours / Mark Twain/ New York, April 6/07.” [MTP].
Sam also inscribed a copy of CS to Mary Thacher Higginson: “To / Mrs. Thomas Wentworth Higginson / with the warm regards of / The Autho / April 6/07.” [MTP].
April 6 Monday – Bermuda. Mark Twain and Earl Grey met and talked to the children at the garrison school. Their comments appeared in the Apr. 19 NY Times. See Apr. 8 below for these.
April 6 Tuesday - Sam reached New York City, and stayed the night at H.H. Rogers’ home [MT P: L-AMS].
Oscar Williams wrote from Westport, Conn. to offer a farm for sale [MTP].
April 6 Wednesday— In Hamilton, Bermuda Sam wrote to Charles T. Lark.
Dear Mr. Lark,
I have told Paine that I want the money derived from the sale of the farm, which I had given, but not conveyed, to my daughter Jean, to be used to erect a building for the Mark Twain Library of Redding, the building to be called the Jean L. Clemens Memorial Building.
April 7 Friday – Sam discussed the MS of an article by journalist Isaac Frederick Marcosson about H.H. Rogers [IVL #2 TS 12; Gribben 479]. Note: Sam read the article on Apr. 5 and spoke with Rogers on Apr. 6. The article ran in the May issue of World’s Work.
At 21 Fifth Ave. in N.Y.C. Isabel V. Lyon wrote for Sam to Robert Underwood Johnson.
“Mr. Clemens wishes me to say that he intends to be present at the conference which is called for Saturday April 22 at the Aldine Association. Mr. Clemens has delayed notifying you of his intention, owing to necessity” [MTP].
April 7 Saturday – Clara Clemens wrote to her father, the letter not extant but was quoted by Sam in his Apr. 10 letter to William Dean Howells and also in his reply to Clara [MTP]. See entries.
Sam was elected as the “annual guest” of Smith College’s New York Alumnae at a luncheon at the Hotel Astor. The New York Times, Apr. 8, p. 7, reported:
TWAIN AND SIR PURDON LAUD SMITH GRADUATES
April 7 Sunday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: Gabrilowitsch was here this evening and played for a long time—played that great Schubert Sonata.
Mr. Clemens and I went over to see Miss Harrison in Bklyn. She sent her mobile over for us and the trip was a long and dreary one; for we had to be stopped short at every corner by children who tried to get under the wheels. But Miss H’s home is very nice and her mother is sweet.
April 7 Tuesday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: Bermuda: The King and I went out to the reefs this morning in a kind of royal party, for Lord Gray the Governor General of Canada and Lady Gray and Mrs. (Bermuda Governor) Wodehouse went—and I did like it very much. Mostly it was quiet and restful. But I had a talk with Mrs. Wodehouse who turned to me at once when someone said of me “That is Mark Twain’s private secretary.” We got into the glass bottomed boats and were rowed out over the coral reefs.
April 7 Wednesday — In NYC in the a.m., Sam went to see Clara to get to the bottom of the firing of Horace Hazen:
April 8 Saturday – Sam’s letter (unsigned) to the editor (as from Satan), “A Humane Word from Satan” first appeared in Harper’s Weekly for Apr. 8, 1905. It was collected in The $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories (1906) [Budd, Collected 2: 1010]. Note: the letter poked again at the American Board of Foreign Missions for not accepting donations from John D. Rockefeller.
Sam inscribed in TS (Vol. 20 of the Hillcrest ed., daughter Clara’s copy), a maxim and a dated sketch about the cat Bambino. From Sotheby’s write up:
April 8 Sunday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam replied to a not-extant letter from daughter Clara, now convalescing at the Hotel Brighton in Atlantic City, N.J.
April 8 Monday – Sam attended the Manhattan Club for a dinner honoring Charlemagne Tower, now Ambassador to Germany. The banquet was organized by Herman Ridder of the Staats-Zeitung. Several speeches were given, including one by Tower. The New York Times, Apr. 9, p.2, “Tariff Peace Near With The Kaiser” listed Samuel L. Clemens among the guests. On Apr. 10 Sam wrote a note, now judged to be to Tower, concerning a special correspondent for the Century, Robert Haven Schauffler, who was going to Germany.
April 8 Wednesday – The New York Times, Apr. 19, p. X4, “Mark Twain’s Outing in Bermuda” ran with three photos of Twain and Irene Gerken (not identified), Twain and H.H. Rogers, and one of Earl Grey and Lt. Gen. Wodehouse:
Mark Twain Tells About the Cat.
April 8 Thursday — In Redding, Conn. Sam wrote to John A. Macy.
Dear Mr. Macy: / I emptied into my Autobiography some remarks about Mr. Greenwood’s able book, and then took a notion to slam them into Harper’s Monthly: but that would put them off much too long, so I made a booklet of them, to be issued to-day. Now that is too early by three entire weeks, as I found last night when I got back from a week’s absence in the South and read your letter. It’s vexatious! but let it go, it can’t be helped.
April 9 Sunday – At 21 Fifth Ave. in N.Y.C. Sam replied to Clesson S. Kenney’s Apr. 8.
I thank you very much for the Farlow circular.
The question you ask me is, “Are they getting so strong that they can dictate what an author may write?” Change the word “write” to publish, and the proper answer is—Yes—However, this has been the case for two or three years. / Very Truly Yours [MTP].
April 9 Monday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers.
When you come by for me at 5 this afternoon won’t you please bring me
1—$500-bank note;
4—100- " "
10—10- " "
& please ask Miss Harrison to draw this $1000 from my balance at the Guaranty Trust. / Yours ever
Miss Lyon doesn’t know about this. SL. Clemens [MTHHR 604-5].
April 9 Tuesday – Minnie Maddern Fiske wrote from NYC to Sam.
April 9 Thursday – Bermuda. Either this day or the next, Sam lost his half of the seashell used to identify him to Margaret Blackmer (see May 25 to Blackmer). It was found by a servant in the mess hall at Prospect Army Garrison and handed to Major Malcolm D. Graham, who mailed it back to Sam in New York. See also May 25 to Graham.
April 9 Friday - Sam recorded events at Stormfield “‘a day or two” after his Apr. 7 arrival from NY:
As I have said, I reached Stormfield on the 7th of April. Things were buzzing so to speak. Ashcroft came up a day or two later. Meantime I had not happened to see anything of Horace, & was too busy to look into his case. When Ashcroft arrived he paid Horace to date, & I signed the check. He paid him at the old rate—a confession, apparently, that Horace had not been “discharged,” & that Ashcroft knew it.
April 9 Saturday — In Hamilton, Bermuda Sam inscribed his photo (1906 of him sitting up in bed reading) to Marion S. Allen (Mrs. William H. Allen). “To Mrs. William H. Allen, with the high esteem & guarded affection of / Mark Twain Bermuda, April 9/ 10.” [MTP].
Sam began reading Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy (1840-1928). Gribben quotes Paine:
August 1 Monday – Sam arrived in New York and visited daughter Clara to disclose Jean’s accident. Clara then left Dr. Parry’s sanatorium and traveled to Lee, Mass. to visit injured sister Jean. She would stay three days and leave just after Sam arrived on Aug. 4 [Hill 97].