September 23 Wednesday – Sam’s original guestbook contained one entry for this date: Harriet W. Barbour, Farmington, Conn. [Mac Donnell TS 3].
Isabel Lyon’s journal: “Ill all day – nervous shock” [MTP: IVL TS 66].
J.H. Burchford for the Circumnavigators Club wrote from Burlington, NJ, a short note to advise a “prospectus” of the club was being sent, “and we should be very glad to receive your application” [MTP].
September 24 Thursday – In Redding, Conn. Sam wrote to William Dean Howells.
Oh I reckon you will be able to stand such abuse as my autobiography will deal out to you. Particularly as you will be in heaven & not caring a dam in that distant future day appointed for the appearance of the Auto in print.
September 25 Friday – Sam was in NYC to see daughter Jean off for Berlin, where she would be treated by a German physician, Professor Hofrath von Reuvers, recommended by Dr. Frederick Peterson, Jean’s primary physician. William Dean Howells and Sam spent some time together [MTHL 837n1]. Note: Clemens likely spent the night in a hotel and saw Jean off early the next morning.
Shelden writes that it was Lyon’s maneuvers which sent Jean abroad:
September 26 Saturday – At 11 a.m., Jean Clemens sailed for Germany on the Pretoria, accompanied by Anna Sterritt, and Marguerite Schmidt. On the dock waving goodbye were her father, Isabel Lyon and Dorothy Quick. Jean would cable her father on Sept. 30 that she was well and having a comfortable voyage [Sept. 30 to L. Paine; MTOW 179; Hill 213]. Note: MTHL 837n1 erroneously gives Sept. 25 as Jean’s sailing date; Howells’ Oct. 30 refers to the time the two spent in NYC “three weeks ago” [837].
September 27 Sunday – The New York American, p. 1 section 2 ran an interview of Mark Twain by Charles Henry Meltzer, about the pamphlet Mark Twain on Three Weeks that Elinor Glyn had published earlier in the year, probably in January. The pamphlet had contained Clemens’ supposed verbatim opinion of Glyn’s Three Weeks, her scandalous but popular novel which depicted an adulterous relationship.
September 28 Monday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: “On Saturday I saw everything to be done in the N.Y. house and not a whit done that Katie had said should be done. So this morning I set out for N.Y. and with Will Wark we worked savagely all day—going from garret to cellar. Santa came in at 6—for Mary has tonsillitis, and Benares came too” [MTP: IVL TS 67].
Sylvester Baxter wrote from Boston to Sam after reading in the paper the account of Clemens’ speech at the Whittier birthday dinner back in 1877.
September 29 Tuesday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: “Work all day long—packing and clearing out the dreadful rubbish of many years’ accumulating. / Bought a bicycle” [MTP: IVL TS 67].
Ralph W. Ashcroft came to Sam’s at 4:15 p.m. After dinner they played billiards until 10:30 p.m. Sam lost [Sept. 30 to Sturgis]. Note: likely Ashcroft delivered Mrs. R.M. Wallace’s appeal on this visit.
September 30 Wednesday – In Redding, Conn. Sam wrote to Louise Paine in Locust Valley, N.Y,
Dear Louise, I was very glad to hear from you. Your father brought back the plated ware to-day, & I have forgiven him, for he did not know it was plated or he would not have taken it. He thought it was silver; that was the only reason he took it, he said to himself. One is not blameable for mistakes, we all make them. A mistake is not a crime, it is only a miscarriage of judgement.
October – In Redding, Conn. Sam wrote to Amelia D. Hookway, principal of the George Howland Elementary school in Chicago.
P. S. to my secretary’s letter:
October 1 Thursday – In Redding, Conn. Sam wrote to John Henniker Heaton (also seen as Henniker-Heaton).
“Dear Mr Henniker-Heaton: / At midnight to-night the Great benefaction to two nations conferred by your labors reaches consummation, & I send my first 2-cent letter to you, along with my cordial congratulations. / Truly Yours” … [MTP]. Note: Henniker-Heaton’s long campaign for cheap postage between England and the US resulted in his being called “the father of International Penny Postage.” See July 2, 1907 entry, Sam’s A.D.
October 2 Friday – In Redding, Conn. Sam wrote to daughter Jean in Berlin, Germany (she would have arrived about this day after leaving Sept. 26). [in left margin: Clara is to send us your address to-day, by telephone or letter.]
Oct. 2’08. Jean dear, it was delightful to hear from you from mid-ocean. Wonderful times we live in!
As I understand it, Clara has completed the arranging of her little flat in Stuyvesant Square, & is moving in, to-day. There is a small extra room for a guest.
October 3 Saturday – At “Stormfield,” Isabel Lyon wrote for Sam to Miss Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874-1942), author of Anne of Green Gables (1908):
Dear Miss Montgomery:
Mr. Clemens directs me to thank you for your charming book & says I may quote to you from his letter to Francis Wilson about it:
In “Anne of Green Gables” you will find the dearest & most moving & delightful child since the immortal Alice.
October 4 Sunday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: “Fanny the pony, Jeannette Cholmely-Jones’s little steed arrived today for me to use and to take care of. The use of her for the care of her. She is very soft; Benares and I just drove around the circle and that is all, before we took her out to the stall made for her in the garage. We shan’t be able to drive her for a fortnight” [MTP: IVL TS 68].
October 5 Monday – In his Oct. 6 to Margaret Blackmer, Sam related activities of this day. See entry.
Edith Virginia Gazella wrote from Rutherford, NJ to Sam. She’d sent him a copy of La Vita Nova, her new magazine and asked if he might look it over and offer how she might improve it. She’d ridden on the streetcar with him a few times but never had the nerve to speak to him. As a girl she would hide in the attic and read HF and TS and wanted so badly to be a boy [MTP].
October 6 Tuesday – In Redding, Conn. Sam wrote to daughter Clara at 17 Livington Place, N.Y.C.
Clärchen dear, your letter sounds ever so good. Your sunny apartment seems to be a rare & fine stroke of luck. I hope you have secured a refusal of it for a year or two; but if you haven’t you can keep it anyway, no doubt, if you behave yourself. Miss Lyon will be able to give me a lot of details concerning the place when she comes back.
October 7 Wednesday – In Redding, Conn. Sam added to his Oct. 6 to Margaret Blackmer. Here is the Oct. 7 segment:
October 8 Thursday – In Redding, Conn. Sam added to his Oct. 6, 7 to Margaret Blackmer. Here is the Oct. 8 segment:
Oct. 8. You’ve been gone so long, now, that I suppose I wouldn’t know you if I met you. But fortunately there’s the shell! By that I should know you in a minute; for there’s only the one shell.
October 9 Friday – In Redding, Conn. Sam finished his Oct. 6, 7, 8 to Margaret Blackmer at the Misses Tewksbury’s School in Irvington-on-Hudson, NY.
Friday, Oct. 9. I have a lovely letter from your mother this morning, & I gather from it that one of these days you are going to invite me again to visit the school. That is very pleasant, dear heart, I shall be sure to accept.
October 10 Saturday – Sam wrote an aphorism to an unidentified person: “We ought never to do wrong when people are looking. / Truly yours / Mark Twain” [MTP: Superior Auction Galleries catalog, Oct. 15, 1991, Item 1832].
In Redding, Conn., Isabel V. Lyon wrote for Sam to Laura Hawkins Frazer, his childhood sweetheart.
October 11 Sunday – Cunard line Commodore Daniel Dow ended his weekend stay at Stormfield. Sam returned his coat and cap worn in the insert photo, likely taken this very day (see Oct. 12 to Nunnally).
Sam’s original guestbook lists Elizabeth G. Guillaume and Jules A. Guillaume, New York [Mac Donnell TS 5].
October 12 Monday – In Redding, Conn. Sam finished his Oct. 10 to Frances Nunnally.
Monday, Oct. 12—noon.
October 13 Tuesday – Sam’s new guestbook:
Name Address Date Remarks
Mrs. Laura Hawkins Frazer Hannibal, Missouri October 15 ——— > My first sweetheart (65 years ago when she was 6 or 7 years old.)
Her granddaughter Clara “ “ “ “
October 14 Wednesday – In Redding, Conn. Sam wrote to Margaret Blackmer.
October 15 Thursday – Sam’s original guestbook contains the following names for this date, which do not appear in the new guestbook, transcribed after Dec. 28: Kate V. Saint Maur, The Maples, Redding; Vida C – – ly Sidney, Siasconset Mass.; Fanny Sanford Shaw, Redbank, N.J. [Mac Donnell TS 5, 7]. Note: p. 6 is left blank.
October 16 Friday – The New York Times, p. 9, “Says Arnold Daly Will Try Vaudeville,” reported that Percy Williams, vaudeville manager and proprietor of the Orpheum circuit announced that Arnold Daly and company would produce a new one-act farce by Mark Twain entitled “Becoming An Editor,” which would open at the Colonial Theatre in Brooklyn on Oct. 26.
Sam’s new guestbook:
Name Address Date Remarks