September 12 Monday – Carlo Paladini, journalist, wrote from Italy to Sam, hoping he was remembered, and asking for an American flag for his cottage, as he was unable to get one there; in exchange he would send “the best Chianti wine of our beloved Tuscany.” He also asked if the autobiography Sam wrote in Florence would be published, and asked after Sam’s “nice, beloved, bright daughters,” recalling Clara’s “voice of nightgale” [MTP].
The Man in the White Suit: Day By Day
September 12 Tuesday – Isabel Lyon’s journal:
Jean—Bathroom, 10 AM. Mr. Clemens has been in bed all day living on toasts and gruels and he is nervous. The indigestion seems better but its traces remain. A letter came today from Col. Harvey in which he said that he showed the letter Mr. Clemens wrote, in response to the invitation to the banquet to the Russians, to Mr. Witte. He couldn’t read it—so it was translated for him and he asked for it to take it back to Russia to his Czar [MTP TS 96].
Jean—Bathroom, 10 AM. Mr. Clemens has been in bed all day living on toasts and gruels and he is nervous. The indigestion seems better but its traces remain. A letter came today from Col. Harvey in which he said that he showed the letter Mr. Clemens wrote, in response to the invitation to the banquet to the Russians, to Mr. Witte. He couldn’t read it—so it was translated for him and he asked for it to take it back to Russia to his Czar [MTP TS 96].
September 12 Wednesday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: “On the train between Boston & New York somewhere. Mrs. George Harvey & Dorothy are in the 2nd parlor coach ahead. I’ve been in to see them” [MTP TS 119]. Note: judging by this and her Sept. 14 entry, Clemens did not go on this trip, the purpose of which is not stated.
September 12 Thursday – In Tuxedo Park, N.Y. Sam began a letter to Dorothy Quick who had left with Miss Lyon for New York City. Clemens added to the letter on Sept. 13 and 14. “Dorothy dear, you are gone, & I am dissatisfied” [MTAq 62].
September 12 Saturday – Sam’s new guestbook:
Name Address Date Remarks
Silas W. Driggs ——————————— ———————————
Teresa W. Driggs From over the Ridge September 12
Clara D. Driggs
Isabel Lyon’s journal: “We worked in the garret over ms. trunks” [MTP: IVL TS 65].
September 12 Sunday — Sam’s new guestbook:
| Name | Address | Date | Remarks |
| Irving Batcheller | Sept 12 | ||
| & 3 friends |
September 13 Wednesday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: “A wooly game! Today Mrs. Henderson came with two of her delightful children. Mr. Clemens isn’t very well—he is on a strict diet of plasmon and broths and he looks white and badly” [MTP TS 96, 98].
Albert Lee for Collier’s Weekly wrote to Sam, enclosing a check for $150 for payment of his article on Christian Citizenship. “We have received a number of letters concerning it, among others one from a gentleman who sends you a ticket to Heaven, which I submit herewith” [MTP].
September 13 Friday – In Tuxedo Park, N.Y. Sam added to his Sept. 12 to Dorothy Quick.
You are still gone, & I am still dissatisfied.
Subsequently.
You are still gone, & I am still more dissatisfieder than ever. This is a long day.
Homeward the bandit plods her weary way and leaves the world to darkness & to me.
September 13 Sunday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: “We worked again over ms. trunks and in the afternoon drove over to the Griggs log cabin, Benares and I” [MTP: IVL TS 65].
September 13 Monday — The New York Times, p.8, reported a resolution to the Clemens-Ashcroft conflict and law suits:
MARK TWAIN SUITS ALL OFF.
All Litigation Between Him and the Ashcrofts is Finally Dropped
The differences between Mark Twain and his daughter, Miss Clara Clemens, on the one side, and his former secretary Mrs. Ralph Ashcroft, and her husband have been settled without an appeal to the courts. All criticism of the conduct of Mrs. Ashcroft has been withdrawn and all suits have been dropped.
September 14 Wednesday – Sam met Mr. & Mrs. H.H. Rogers at the pier as they disembarked from the Oceanic from Liverpool. The New York Times, Sept. 15, p.6, reported Rogers’ homecoming:
H. H. ROGERS HOME AGAIN. –––
Has Been Busy Having a Good Time—Mark Twain Meets Him.
Image
September 14 Thursday – Isabel Lyon’s journal:
September 14 Friday – In Dublin, N.H. Sam replied to the (not extant) Sept. 12 letter of Joe Twichell in Blue Ridge, N.Y.
It’s all right about the Westminster, I am hoping to get converted, & I don’t wish to leave any promising bait unswallowed. I see that you wish me to help you deceive the guide into believing that you enjoy the distinction of being acquainted with me, & so, out of the weakness of inherent good-nature I consent, though I’m damned if I think it is good morals.
September 14 Saturday – In Tuxedo Park, N.Y. Sam finished his Sept.12, 13 to Dorothy Quick.
Which I did [go to bed]. But a cricket was hiding somewhere in the room, & continuously & monotonously shrieking. I endured it an hour (until 10), then removed to another room. I returned at 11, at 1, at 4, but was drivenout each time.
Last night he drove me out at 9.30, & I returned no more. To-night Miss Lyon will occupy my room, & capture him if possible.
September 14 Monday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: “I went to town with Santa” [MTP: IVL TS 65].
September 14 Tuesday — In Redding, Conn. Sam wrote to Melville E. Stone.
Dear Stone: / I have been a sick man for several months, & shut up in the house by the doctors, & you go & choose this time to have a banquet, when I can’t come! I am sorry. But I don't blame you—you couldn’t help it.
September 15 Thursday – Sam, who was staying at the Hotel Wolcott in New York, accompanied by Ralph W. Ashcroft, went to see John Hays Hammond at his hotel, but discovered he was in Gloucester, Mass. Sam then sent the following telegram to Hammond:
NEW YORK, Sept. 15, 1904.
JOHN HAYS HAMMOND:
September 15 Friday – Dublin, N.H.: Sam wrote to Clara Clemens. Clärchen dear, I have just written the [Hotel] Touraine that you & Miss Alling may possibly arrive Tuesday the 19th ; & to take care of you. I have told Katy you are going to New York the 20th; you will see her there.
September 15 Saturday – Sam left Dublin, N.H. for Fairhaven, Mass. [Sept. 14 to Twichell].
September 15 Sunday – Sam inscribed a copy of IA with his “truth….economise” aphorism to Miss Josephine S. Hobby, his stenographer for his autobiographical dictations [MTP].
Isabel Lyon’s journal: I wrote a poem for T.
September 15 Tuesday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: “I came back from town with Santa” [MTP: IVL TS 65].
Hawaii Promotion Co. sent a press release about the imminent shipment of the koa wood mantel carved by Franz (Frank) Nickolous Otremba, who had worked on the piece the last four months [MTP].
September 15 Wednesday - In Redding, Conn, Sam wrote to Margaret Blackmer in Lake Placid, N.Y.
You thoughtless little rascal, why didn’t you tell me where you were going to be, now? You are gone from Lake Placid by this time, & this letter won’t ever reach you.
September 16 Friday – With Mr. and Mrs. H.H. Rogers, Sam left New York on the Kanawha for Fairhaven, Mass. to “help dedicate that church” (Unitarian Memorial Church), that Rogers built and dedicated to his mother. Sam would return on Sept. 22 [Oct. 23 to Crane; NY Times, Sept. 20, p.1 (below) ]. Ralph W. Ashcroft wrote to Sam. “As I’m to be in jail before sun down (so Wheeler says) I’ve written out my defence to his & Hammond’s charge & enclose it herewith. / Try to digest and assimilate it before Wednesday” [MTP].
September 16 Saturday – In Dublin, N.H. Sam replied to Lilian W. Aldrich’s Sept. 15:
Dear Mrs. T.B.: / You don’t need the secretary. Mr. Rogers does not see very many of the business letters that go to 26 Broadway, but he sees & reads all the personal letters that go there addressed to him.
I am going to hope with all my might that I can go from another friend’s house in Boston about the 27th or the 28th of October & have a day with you; but I’ll have to excuse Jean—she would be too much responsibility for me.
September 16 Sunday – Isabel Lyon’s journal:
Jean, 10:30—porch. 2 weeks & 2 days.
A dreadful kind of day, for Jean would not let me out of her sight. We tried to walk a little but she was not equal to it. Then I dressed up in a clown costume to cheer her up & then she began to read “Kim” aloud to me. But it was a dreadful kind of a day, for she couldn’t keep it up [MTP TS 120].
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