The Man in the White Suit: Day By Day

August 14 Sunday – Rev. Minot Judson Savage wrote from Billrica, Mass. to Sam, enclosing a small, fold-out schedule of his sermons and books.

Dear Mr. Clemens: / I have followed you & your work ever since I heard you lecture in Grass Valley, Cal. In 1866. You have given me more hours of pleasure than any other living writer.

Now, in your sorrow, I wish I could help you. I do not expect to. I am not so stupid as to offer you “consolation.” ….I only want to say to you that I wish I could make your burden lighter [MTP].

August 14 Tuesday – In Dublin, N.H. Sam wrote a delightful letter to Mary B. Rogers (Mrs. Harry Rogers, Jr.) in Fairhaven, Mass. 

August 14 Friday – Sam’s guestbook:

Name Address Date Remarks

John B. Stanchfield ) )    

Mrs. Stanchfield )   New York City )“ [August] 14-15 [Clara Spaulding Stanchfield]

Alice their daughter ) )

      Note: none of the above names were in the original guestbook.

Isabel Lyon’s journal: “The Stanchfields arrived by motor hours late. / Ashcroft started for Canada” [MTP: IVL TS 59].

August 15 Monday – Sam was in N.Y.C. and had planned to go to Great Neck, Long Island to stay with the Broughtons, but was fatigued with taking care of business so went to bed at 8 p.m. and delayed the trip for a day [Aug. 18 to Loomis].

Livy’s last will and testament was filed in N.Y.C. The New York Times, Aug. 16, p.7 noted:

MRS. CLEMENS LEFT $35,000. ——

Author’s Wife Willed Property to Him and Two Children.

August 15 Wednesday – Frank N. Doubleday wrote from N.Y.C. to Sam [MTP]. Note: Sam had asked Doubleday to “put away ten copies” of “What is Man?” for “special bindings some day” on July 27. Doubleday replied that he’d been out of town and didn’t receive Sam’s letter and telegram until Monday (Aug. 13).

August 15 Thursday – In Tuxedo Park, N.Y. Sam finished his Aug.11th to Dorothy Quick in Plainfield, N.J.

August 15 Saturday – In Redding, Conn. Sam wrote to Dorothy Sturgis.

Dear Dorothy:

Good! You will be very welcome.

August 16 Tuesday – Sam stayed the night in with the Broughtons in their country place in Great Neck, Long Island, N.Y. [17 Aug. to Lyon, Aug. 18 to Loomis].

August 16 Thursday – Independent Magazine published a brief, anonymous review of Eve’s Diary, p. 397. It was uncritical [Tenney: “A Reference Guide Sixth Annual Supplement,” American Literary Realism, Spring 1982 p. 10].

August 16 Friday – Dorothy Quick wrote from the Truell Inn, Plainfield, N.J. to Sam.

August 16 Sunday – Sam wrote a tribute to his late nephew, “Samuel Erasmus Moffett” and quoted from an obituary in Collier’s Weekly [Gribben 154]. Note: Moffett died on Aug. 1, 1908.

Isabel Lyon’s journal:  “Stanchfields left, creeping down the long hill through the field” [MTP: IVL TS 59].

Clemens A.D. for this day is listed by MTP.    

August 16 Monday — Paine writes of Sam’s reading and of events in the evening:

August 16. He is reading Suetonius, which he already knows by heart — so full of the cruelties and licentiousness of imperial Rome.

This afternoon he began talking about Claudius,

August 17 Wednesday – Sam returned to N.Y.C.. and signed a three-year lease with James A. Renwick for the house at 21 Fifth Avenue in N.Y.C. at $3,500 per year [Hill 97]. He checked in on Clara again at Dr. Parry’s, and learned that Jean was on crutches in Lee, Mass. He then returned to Great Neck [Aug. 18 to HHR; Aug. 18 to Loomis]. Note: the house would undergo repairs and be ready for the remaining Clemens family in November. Insert of 21 Fifth Ave.(corner; next to Brevoort House).

August 17 Friday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: “Today came such a drowsy little note from the King to say that the dictating is a burden to him, & so he is flying away down to Fairhaven & pretty Mrs. Harry Rogers, & the yacht, & he is so glad to have the holiday. Dublin is become an impossible place for him to live in” [MTP TS 108].

August 17 Saturday – In Tuxedo Park, N.Y. Sam began a letter to Dorothy Quick that he added to on Aug. 18, 19, 21 and 22. For this day, he drew a sketch of an insect:

August 17 Monday – In Redding, Conn. Sam wrote to Mary B. Rogers (Mrs. H.H. Rogers, Jr.).

August 17 Tuesday - Sam's new guest book:

August 18 Thursday – In Great Neck, N.Y. Sam wrote to his niece, Julia Langdon Loomis (Mrs.Edward Eugene Loomis).

Julie dear, I was not able to leave town Monday afternoon in compliance with my engagement —I was worn out & broken down, so I gave up & went to bed at 8 in the evening. Next morning I reached your house by 9 or half-past, but you were gone: you, & Edward & all the dear Idas. I should have been very very glad of a glimpse.

August 18 Friday – Ralph W. Ashcroft wrote on Koy-Lo Co. letterhead to Sam, giving him an update on the lawsuit involving the Plasmon Co. of America, and asking for an additional $150 to pay attorney Baldwin for increased legal fees to contest an appeal by their opponents [MTP]. Note: Ashcroft was Secretary and Treasurer of the Co. at this time, which is how he met Sam. He would later become Sam’s secretary and accompany him to London in 1907. Sam was still in Norfolk, Conn. On or about Aug. 31 he would direct Isabel Lyon to send the $150. See entries: Dec. 1901, Mar.

August 18 Saturday – Isabel Lyon’s journal:

August 18 Sunday – In Tuxedo Park, N.Y. Sam added to his Aug. 17 to Dorothy Quick.

We talk about you all the time. You are not a large subject, but a very entertaining one.

“Would I like to have you read to me?” Indeed I should. I couldn’t like anything better.

Don’t you be troubled about your hand, Dorothy. It is a good hand, & has the chiefest of all merits: that it is as easy to read as print.