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 Sunday – Muriel M. Pears wrote to Sam. She planned to sail for New York early in December and divide her “three short months” between NY and Washington. She thought it would be disloyal to pass through without seeing him [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Put this in the tin box. SLC”
October 9 Monday – In Dublin, N.H. Sam wrote two letters to Frederick A. Duneka of Harper’s.
The easiest way for me to furnish the details you ask for . . . is handy for you too; for you can at your pleasure talk the details to any journalist that come to you or print my letter on slips & hand them to as many of the boys as will accept . . .
…As to other matters here are the details.
Yes, I have tried a number of summer homes, here & in Europe together.
October 9 Tuesday – In Dublin, N.H. Sam wrote to daughter Clara, in care of John Walker,
Clara dear I hope you are sleeping well, now, & without the help of drugs. Certainly broken sleep is a bad thing. I have suffered from it several times lately. Twice it has cost me my day’s work. This morning it took me half an hour to dictate a dozen sentences—then I gave it up. A day or two ago I had the like experience.
October 9 Wednesday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: “King and I went to N.Y. on the 8:15. He dined with Mr. Jim Clemens and Mr. Brent Clemens at Delmonicoes” [MTP TS 113].
John J. Craven wrote from Phila. to thank Sam for Lyon’s letter of Oct. 8 with signed photo [MTP].
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 9 Saturday — Sam’s new guestbook:
| Name | Address | Date | Remarks |
| F.A. Duneka | New York | Oct.9&10 |
Arthur Conan Doyle wrote from London to Sam.
I know that you feel as I do about the Congo. You have magnificently proved it in your book.
I am sending you mine “The Crime of the Congo” which brings the facts up to date.
October-December – Sometime during this period Sam wrote a short note to the editor of the St. Louis Republic: “May my namesake follow in my righteous footsteps, then neither of us will need any fire insurance” [MTB 1424]. Note: Sotheby’s auction Apr. 3, 2008 Lot 29 sold this note and commented: “In 1907 a new boat was built for the St. Louis Harbor and christened ‘Mark Twain.’ The editor of a local paper wrote to Clemens and asked for a comment.”
September 1 Thursday – John Hays Hammond’s handling of the Plasmon Co. of America’s near-insolvency created a dispute (see Aug. entry). A stockholders’ meeting was held on Sept. 1, and a new board of directors elected. Ralph W. Ashcroft was immediately elected general manager of the company by the new board. [Report of Cases Vol. 187 (1910): Ashcroft v. Hammond 491]. Sam may have attended, or may have given Ashcroft his proxy .
September 1 Friday – In Dublin, N.H. Isabel V. Lyon replied for Sam to the Aug. 19 of William Hill. Sam was not well enough to write letters, she wrote, and he was seldom moved to write anything, and what he did write belonged to Harper & Brothers as he had a “very rigid contract” [MTP].
Isabel Lyon’s Journal: “I have written to Miss Bright that I cannot, cannot, cannot write that article. Evey bit of me rebels, every bit of my mind and body” [MTP TS 92]. Note: see Aug. 26 entry.
September 1 Saturday – In Dublin, N.H. Sam inscribed a “Year Book” to Simon Wolf:
“There is no sadder sight than a young pessimist” [MTP] Note: MTP calls this “Wolf’s th Commemorative Book of 1906.” For Wolf’s 70 birthday, his daughter, Florence Gotthold, put three books together with over 400 personal messages from famous men of the day, including Twain, Grover Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt, and Oliver Wendell Holmes.
September 1 Sunday – In Tuxedo Park, N.Y. Sam wrote to Albert Langen.
September 1 Tuesday – Sam had Mr. & Mrs. Albert Bigelow Paine, and daughter Louise to luncheon [Sept. 3 to Quick]. Note: he did not enter this visit into his new guestbook.
Isabel Lyon’s journal: “Lou and David arrived to visit mother, but I couldn’t meet them, for I was full of the King’s reception today” [MTP: IVL TS 62].
Bruno Frede wrote from Altona a.d. Elbe, Germany to ask for Mark Twain’s autograph. He included some verses in German [MTP].
September 1 Wednesday — Sam’s new guestbook:
| Name | Address | Date | Remarks |
| Marjorie Breckinridge | New([?] Cabin in the Glen | Sept 1 | Note: Breckenridge, not Breckinridge] |
September 10 Saturday – In N.Y.C. Sam wrote to Franklin G. Whitmore: “Where is the carved oak mantelpiece that stood in our library? Is it stored in Hartford?”[MTP].
September 10 Monday – Isabel Lyon’s journal:
Last night we sat out on the porch for a long time to watch the stars. The King & Jean & I. They were very wonderful. It seemed that almost never before were there so many & we couldn’t tear ourselves away.
September 10 Tuesday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: “No. C.S. advertisements” [MTP TS 102].
Kate B. Lee wrote to ask Sam to write a piece on seasickness, as she suffered from it for two whole days and couldn’t explain it to friends [MTP]. Note: Lyon wrote on the letter, “Answd. Sept. 16, ‘07”
September 10 Thursday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: “Will [Charles Wark] came up this morning. / At early breakfast came 2 letters from Paine. Benares and I were in the loggia at breakfast and I had to have him read them, for since the day when Paine wrote a letter that must have been terrible, for he forestalled my reading of it.”
September 10 Friday — In Redding, Conn. Sam wrote to Helen Schuyler Allen in Franklin, N.Y. Text is not available [MTP].
Sam also wrote a postcard to Dorothy Quick.
I am glad to hear you are enjoying yourself. I am still a prisoner in the house these past 3 months, with no prospect of getting out for a long time to come. But I guess it’s all right. Infirmities & disabilities are quite proper to old age, Have a good time while you are young, dear! /With lots of love / ...[MTP; MTAq 264].
September 11 Sunday – In N.Y.C. Sam replied on a banquet invitation sent by Melville Elijah Stone for the Associated Press. “Dear Mr. Stone: It is so long since I was at a banquet, that I probably shan’t know how to behave—still, I shall be there.” Sam added a request after his signature to please keep his “hotel address secret” [MTP]. Note: strangely the enclosed card was for a Sept. 22 banquet at the Claypool Hotel in Indianapolis, Ind. Sam did not travel to Indiana on that date, so the card was likely used for another event.
September 11 Tuesday – In Dublin, N.H. Sam wrote to Mary B. Rogers. Only the envelope survives [MTP].
Sam also sent a night telegram to Frederic Chapin in Oak Park, Ill. relative to Chapin’s Aug. 19 concern about producing a play of P&P there: “My contract is in the Safe deposit New York. I do not remember the terms—My secretary goes down tomorrow—Wednesday— empowered to examine it & decide definitely with Miss Marbury” [MTP].
September 11 Wednesday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: I had what the King calls “an adventure” this rainy morning. A Mr. Ullman, a man who does writing for newspaper syndicates came out by appointment to see me and so write an article about the way the King spends his day. He was planning to make it seem as if he had really had “a day with Mark Twain” and only after continued determination on my part would he consent to have the interview come through me. He is to submit his ms. to me. When that was promised I could and did talk freely and we had a very good time.
September 11 Friday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: “Benares came this afternoon” [MTP: IVL TS 64-65].