October 31 Saturday – In Redding, Conn. Sam finished his Oct. 24, 26, 27, 28, 29 to Frances Nunnally.
[written in the side margin of page 1:] Oct. 31. I haven’t finished this letter yet, but Ashcroft wants to play billiards; so I will start it along & finish it another time. With very much love. SLC
[caption on an enclosed photograph] Affectionate greetings from this triangle, or trilogy, or whatever its right name is.
October 4 Tuesday – The postponed dedication of the Fairhaven church ( Unitarian Memorial ) that Rogers built and dedicated to his mother. (See Sept. 21) was carried out this day; in his Oct. 7 to Lyon, Sam claimed he’d been “too busy dedicating churches in Fairhaven” to write Jean. It’s not known just when he went to Fairhaven, nor how long he stayed, but the Oct. 7 note suggested he was at least there the day of dedication, which was Oct. 4. The lack of any outgoing letters for the prior weekend suggests perhaps he spent several days in Fairhaven.
October 4 Thursday – In Dublin, N.H. Sam replied to the Sept. 27 from Anne W. Stockbridge.
Dear Miss Stockbridge (if she really exists):
257 Benefit Street (if there is any such place)
Yes, I should like a copy of that other letter. This whole fake is delightful, & I tremble with fear that you are a fake yourself & that I am your guileless prey. (But never mind, it isn’t any matter) Now as to publication. I shall be going home to New York 8 days hence— 21 Fifth Avenue
October 4 Friday – In Tuxedo Park, N.Y. Sam wrote a great spoof to William Dean Howells, and sent the same note to daughter Jean (perhaps the first part of the letter is lost).
Jean dear it is an outrage the way the govment is acting so I am sending following complaint to N. Y. Times with Howels name signed because it will have more weight:
P. S.
To the Editor
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 Friday – In Dublin, N.H. Sam replied to the Oct. 3 from (Harold) Witter Bynner, supporting Bynner’s decision to devote himself to poetry.
Dear Poet: / You have certainly done right—for several good reasons; at least, of them, I can name two: 1. With your reputation you can have your freedom & yet earn your living: if you fall short of succeeding to your wish, your reputation will provide you another job. And so, in high approval I suppress the scolding & give you the saintly & fatherly pat instead.
October 5 Saturday – In Tuxedo Park, N.Y. Isabel V. Lyon replied for Sam to the Oct. 4th from Katharine B. Clemens (Mrs. James Ross Clemens), now in N.Y.C. Yes, Sam had rec’d the photographs of Katharine’s “two charming little children”; Lyon had written her thanks, and they’d waited for them until the last train “on that Saturday.”
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 Saturday – Isabel Lyon’s journal:
All day, wind & rain.
With the afternoon mail came a letter from AB to the King—a love letter & the most beautiful love letter ever written. The King was deeply moved as he read it & when he called me in from my study his voice was shaking as he said, “Superb, superb! and worth waiting 70 years for.” He gave me the letter to read & it made me weep, even as he had wept. I didn’t know A.B. could write so exquisitely.
October 6 Sunday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: This afternoon when the Masons were here for tea and the subject of Geography came up, the King said that he had no sense of it himself, and that when they were living in the Villa Viviani, Oscar Wilde’s little wife went out to call and to ask the best way to get back to England, the King said he gave her instructions which if she had followed would have landed her in China. Chat seemed to drivel along until the King said to Mrs. Mason who is a Christian Scientist and who has been planning a debate with the King —“Well, Mrs.
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 6 Wednesday — Clara Clemens married Ossip Gabrilowitsch at Stormfield. Joe Twichell performed the ceremony. The New York Times reported the event on Oct. 7, p. 9:
MISS CLEMENS WEDS MR. GABRILOWITSCH
Mark Twain, in Scarlet Cap and Gown, Sees His Daughter Married to Russian Pianist.
AVOIDS “CEREMONY DELAYS”
October 7 Friday – In N.Y.C. at the Grosvenor Hotel, Sam dictated a letter to Ralph W. Ashcroft for Isabel V. Lyon about the purchase of stock from Ashcroft.
Dear Miss Lyon: / Please fill up stub of check No. 68 in the Guaranty Trust Co. with the amount: “$4000,” the name: “R. W. Ashcroft,” and the explanation: “first payment completing purchase of International Spirit Pen [sic Spiral Pin] Co. stock.”
Please also send me another numbered Guaranty check, (in blank,) to the Grosvenor.
October 7 Sunday – Isabel Lyon’s journal:
It’s night now & I’ve just come to my room. The King called a minute ago & when I went to my door to see what he wanted, he stood in his own doorway & with gritting teeth said, “I wish you’d gather together my bobtailed flannel night shirts & burn them! I wish they were all in hell! I hate them so!”
He has been giving us a lovely evening, for he has been reading poetry for more than an hour— the old English ballads, & war poems
October 7 Monday – Isabel Lyon wrote to Dorothy Quick [MTAq 75-6].
Isabel Lyon’s journal: “Ashcroft went at 8:15 and I went to N.Y. to see about getting the house in order for C.C.” [MTP TS 113].
Howells & Stokes wrote to Miss Lyon requesting a new check be drawn in the name of William Webb Sunderland since both Howells and Stokes were out of town [MTP].
Charles J. Langdon wrote a short note, enclosing draft for $44.33 on the Buffalo property [MTP].
October 7 Wednesday – In Redding, Conn. Sam added to his Oct. 6 to Margaret Blackmer. Here is the Oct. 7 segment:
October 7 Thursday — In Redding, Conn. Sam sent a telegram and then wrote a letter to Helen Schuyler Allen at the Hotel St. Andrew, N.Y.C. The telegram simply said: “Will write, wait for letter.”
Here is his letter:
October 8 Saturday – George W. Hobbs of Hobbs Bros. Carriage Builders, Ninevah, NY, wrote a letter of condolence and admiration to Sam [MTP].
An unidentified person from Freemantle, Western Australia sent Sam a picture pamphlet of aborigines; no note enclosed [MTP].
October 8 Sunday – R.H. Wilson wrote from Brooklyn, NY to Sam, asking about JA—was it “true history,” and if so, why was it written under the name Luis DeConte? [MTP].
October 8 Monday – Isabel Lyon’s journal:
The King is filled with the idea of defying conventionalities & wearing his suitable white clothes all winter, so he has bidden me order 5 new suits from his tailor; the suits to be ready against the time we arrive in N.Y. He was a creature of inspiration today even to his toe tips. He was a lambent spirit, & the dictating was beautiful. I sat in the study, writing some, but listening most; & drawing checks.
October 8 Tuesday – In Tuxedo Park, N.Y. Sam wrote to daughter Jean in Katonah, N.Y.
Jean dear, I hear that Dr. [Frederick] Peterson is exceedingly well pleased with your year’s progress, & certainly I am. It is a wonderful advance. How fortunate it was that fortune put you into his hands. He expects this improvement to go right along.