The Man in the White Suit: Day By Day

November 4 Wednesday – In Redding, Conn. Sam wrote to daughter Jean in Berlin, Germany.  

November 4 Thursday — Lotta M. Crabtree wrote on Brewster Hotel, Boston notepaper to ask forgiveness for “not having acknowledged at once the invitation to your daughter’s wedding” [MTP]. Note: “’Lotta’ /Autograph Col’

November 5 Saturday – Charlotte Graham Toler wrote from London to Sam. She had seen the letter Clemens wrote her brother, and was “infinitely touched” by his reference to her sister and herself. She offered condolences and expressed gratitude he was taking up the Congo matter, since Roger Casement, who had prepared the Congo report, was “a great friend of ours” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “My tin box / sisters of.”

November 5 Sunday – Ruth McCall for Phi Kappa Psi, Smith College wrote to ask Sam to be their peaker at their annual open meeting [MTP].

Mary Boyle O’Reilly (1873-1939), philanthropist and WWI correspondent, wrote on The Guild of St. Elizabeth (Boston) letterhead to ask Sam for an authographed book for their Nov. 21 fair, as he had done the year before [MTP]. Note: Clemens wrote at top: “Send 2 or 3 / Autographed / Joan of Arc / Dog’s Tale”; see also IVL journal #2 entry for Nov. 9.

November 5 Monday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote to Emilie R. Rogers (Mrs. H.H. Rogers).

The billiard table is better than the doctors. It is driving out the heartburn in a most promising way. I have a billiardist on the premises, & I walk not less than ten miles every day with the cue in my hand. And the walking is not the whole of the exercise, nor the most health-giving part of it, I think. Through the multitude of the positions & attitudes it brings into play every muscle in the body & exercises them all.

November 5 Thursday – In Redding, Conn. Sam sent a telegram to President of the Pilgrims, N.Y. chapter.

President of the Pilgrims:

New York

November 5 Friday — William Dean Howells wrote from N.Y.C. to Sam.

November 6 Sunday – At the Grosvenor Hotel in N.Y.C. Sam wrote to Susan Crane.

November 6 Tuesday – Rev. William Fitz-Simon of St. Mary’s Rectory, NYC wrote to Sam.

It was so kind, and doubtless characteristic of you to remember the clergy. The crown jewels reached me through Rushmore[‘]s hands and you have my sincere gratitude.

November 6 Wednesday – William Dean Howells saw Sam often during the fall and early winter of 1907-08. “I am going down to see old Clemens this morning,” Howells wrote his wife on Nov. 6 [MTHL 2: 827].

Charles J. Langdon wrote enclosing a draft for $137.50 to Sam for payment of bonds from Duvall Co. Fla.

November 6 Friday – In Redding, Conn. Sam wrote to the Redding Court. “This is to certify that I have examined & identified as my property the silver taken from my house by force in the early morning of September 18, 1908. / Respectfully submitted to the honorable Court” /… [MTP].

Sam also wrote to an unidentified man.

Dear Sir: / I note this passage in the letter sent you by Mr. Ashley:

November 6 Saturday — Frank L. Dyer for National Phonograph Co., Orange, NJ wrote to Sam.

November 7 Monday – Clara Clemens was back in N.Y.C. at Dr. Parry’s on 69 Street. The doctor had ordered complete isolation for her for one year, all except the nurse and doctor. Sam went to say a long goodbye [Nov. 9 to MacAlister; Nov. 10 or 11 to Doubleday].

Yuran writes of Clara’s removal to Norfolk, Conn. and gives us a letter dated Nov. 7, 1904 to her father. “In a letter with the heading ‘Clara goes into vanishment’… there is a handwritten note documenting that it was ‘written on the way to Norfolk, CT where Clara went for a rest cure.’ She wrote to her father:”

November 7 Wednesday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote his “pal,” Mary B. Rogers:

Dear pal, there are many nieces in the world, but you are the most patient one there is, & in my opinion the only perfect one.

November 7 Thursday – James C. Barr wrote on Cunard Steamship Co. notepaper, while in port in NYC. Barr enclosed a letter to Clemens from John Japp, Lord Mayor of Liverpool, and though there’s been some delay in Japp getting the book Sam sent, Barr confirmed that Japp now had the book,[MTP].

Kate Douglas Riggs for the Literary Committee, Colony Club, NYC wrote to Sam not to “let anything happen to prevent your being the guest of honor at the Colony Club next Tuesday the 12th as you have agreed” [MTP].

November 7 Saturday – In Redding, Conn. on this day or Nov. 8 Sam sent another receipt on his library notice to Frederick A. Duneka for $1 [MTP].

Sam’s new guestbook:  

Name Address Date Remarks

Mrs. Lillian Duneka     Also her husband   Of Harper & Brothers  November 7-8

November 7 Sunday — In Redding, Conn. Sam wrote to Beatrice M. Benjamin on her wedding day.

Dear Beatrice:

November 8 Tuesday – At the Grosvenor Hotel in N.Y.C. Sam inscribed a copy of A Dog’s Tale to The Guild of St. Elizabeth: “To / The Guild of St. Elizabeth / from a friend. / Mark Twain / We cannot all be as good & sweet & lovely as a good dog, but we can all try. / M.T. / Nov. 8, 1904” [MTP].

November 8 Wednesday – William Ten Eyck Hardenbrook wrote from N.Y.C. to Sam asking for a photograph of him for a “reference collection of portraits, with biographical data of one hundred of the most eminent living Americans.” He supplied a list of photographers who would do a sitting at no cost to Sam should he lack a photograph. On or just after this date Miss Lyon replied for Sam that he did not keep photos on hand but “9—made a good one a year ago,” probably referring to number nine on the list of photographers [MTP].

November 8 Thursday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote to daughter Jean.

It is a gray morning, Jean dear, and I have awakened prematurely.

I have been coughing only 8 or 9 days, yet I am already more than half tired of it. This is because it’s not sentimental or sympathetic, but is a dry bark like tan-bark. I do not go out of the house yet; I go down stairs, but not frequent

[segment about the Nov. 7 dinner party]

November 8 Friday – Clinton B. Fisk wrote from NYC to ask Sam when he might “confer… regarding a matter of theatrical literary return that may prove mutually to our profit” [MTP]. Note: Lyon wrote on the letter, “Answd. Nov. 11, ‘07”

November 8 Sunday – Charles Este wrote to ask Sam if he would “drop a word” to Mrs. Catherine Starbuck a 90 year old friend of his in Nantucket, Mass. He enclosed a note from the lady wondering if Clemens had decided not to finish his Autobiography [MTP]. Note: “Ans. Dec. 11 MLH” [his address on note paper 4111 Baltimore Ave. City is not given; such an address exists in Phila., Kansas City, Mo. & others].

Friedrich Henke wrote from Berlin, another letter in German to Sam [MTP]. Note: Not translated.

November 8 Monday — In Redding, Conn. Sam replied to the Oct. 29 from Miss Helen Roberts.

Dear Miss Roberts: / I am not sure I understand the question, but it seems to be Am I jesting, or am I in earnest in believing Shakespeare did not write Shakspeare? If that is it, I am in earnest, & not jesting.