March – The North American Review for March carried Max O’Rell’s (Leon Paul Blouët) article, “Mark Twain & Paul Bourget,” an answer to Sam’s criticism of Bourget’s observations of America. O’Rell added a spirited defense of French morality [Tenney 24].
March 2 Saturday – The S.S. New York arrived in New York City [NY Times, Mar. 3, 1895 p.14, “Arrivals from Europe”; Mar. 11 to Livy]. Mrs. Cara Rogers Duff met his boat and escorted him to the Rogers’ home at 26 E. 57th Street [2nd Apr. 3 to Rogers].
March 4 Monday – Lloyd S. Bryce, editor of the North American Review, wrote to Sam, the letter not extant but mentioned in Sam’s Mar. 9 to Bryce.
March 5 Tuesday – From H.H. Rogers’ abode at 26 E. 57th in New York, Sam wrote to Frank Fuller.
I am in America for a few days. Part of my errand is to arrange for my new book [JA], which is now finished. Another part of it is to consider a uniform edition of my books.
Can you come down now? If so, the car that passes the Grand Central Station will bring you to the above dwelling house.
March 6 Wednesday – Sam’s notebook: “Mr. Rogers’s, 26 E. 57th. / March 6/95, 10.45 a.m. Bliss” [NB 34 TS 5].
March 9 Saturday – From the Rogers’ home on 26 E. 57th in New York, Sam wrote to Lloyd S. Bryce, editor of the North American Review.
I find a basketful of unforwarded letters here this morning; among them yours [not extant] of five days ago. If I had the Cooper article here — but it’s in Paris. I will examine it when I reach there the first week in April, & — probably re-write it. If I get it to suit me I will send it to you.
March 11 Monday – At H.H. Rogers’ home, 26 E. 57th in New York, Sam wrote to Livy:
Livy darling, I have been here 9 days [arrived Mar. 2], & have received but one letter from you. It came with the address corrected at the Postoffice, & so I gave myself no further uneasiness; but I must make some inquiries, for two letters are due from other folk beside those which you have doubtless written.
March 13 Wednesday – Sam’s notebook:
26, East 57th, March 13/95. John Brisben Walker has just offered me $10,000 for 12 articles on my Australian trip. If I make the trip I think I will accept [NB 34 TS 6]. Note: Sam did make the trip but reconsidered and turned down all such offers. On June 18, 1895, he would answer Frank Hall Scott, president of the Century Publishing Co. See entry.
March 15 Friday – Sometime during this week Sam went to Hartford. He may have stayed at the Twichell’s, or the Day’s, who were renting the Clemens house on Farmington Ave. His Mar. 20 to Livy expressed that when he arrived in Hartford, he “did not want to go near the house , & didn’t want to go anywhere or see anybody,” which suggests he didn’t stay at either home initially. As to the length of his stay in Hartford, on Mar.
March 19 Tuesday – Susy Clemens’ 23rd birthday.
The New York Times, p.3, “Theatrical Gossip” Mar. 20, 1895:
March 20 Wednesday – From the Clemens home on Farmington Ave. in Hartford, Sam began a letter to Livy in Paris, which he finished on Mar. 21. He headed the letter “At Home, Hartford, Mch.20/95.”
Livy darling, when I arrived in town I did not want to go near the house, & I didn’t want to go anywhere or see anybody. I said to myself, “If I may be spared it I will never live in Hartford again.”
March 21 Thursday – In Hartford at Joe Twichell’s, Sam finished his Mar. 20 to Livy:
March 21. (Uncle Joe’s.)
I was to dine there at 6.30, — & did. It was their first day, & their first meal. I was there first, & received them. Then John sent in the roses & your card, which touched Mrs. Alice [Day] to the depths. Good-bye dear sweetheart, good-bye. / Saml [LLMT 312].
March 22 Friday – Sam returned to New York and the Rogers’ home at 26 E. 57th, where he wrote a short note to Laurence Hutton.
O, I am unspeakably sorry that I am to miss seeing that dear & marvelous child. I have just returned, after an absence of many days, & am leaving again to-day to be absent till Monday. Give her my love; & the like to Mrs. Hutton [MTP].
March 23 Saturday – In New York, Sam wrote a letter to John Elderkin, secretary of the Lotos Club. The letter was printed in the N.Y. Tribune for Apr. 25, 1895, p.11, along with a notice that “Mark Twain has been elected a life member of the Lotos Club.”
March 24 Sunday – In New York, fourteen year old Helen Keller (1880-1968), the first deafblind person who would graduate from college, met Sam and William Dean Howells at Laurence Hutton’s. (Sam’s Nov. 26, 1896 to Emilie Rogers mentions that H.H. Rogers was also present.) Keller wrote to her friend, Mary Mapes Dodge on Mar. 29 (using a new script typewriter, a “Remington”) of the meeting on the previous Sunday (Mar.
March 25 Monday – Sam traveled to Philadelphia, where he gave a luncheon speech at Cramp’s Shipyard for a dedication ceremony of a new liner. Fatout’s intro to the speech, p.274, MT Speaking:
March 26 Tuesday – An unidentified person wrote to Sam (envelope only, Keller to Dodge Mar. 29 encl.) [MTP]. Note: this is the letter of Helen Keller’s quoted in Mar. 24 entry, so the sender may have been its recipient, Mary Mapes Dodge.
March 27 Wednesday – In New York at the Rogers home, a few minutes before leaving to board the S.S. Paris, Sam wrote a paragraph to Franklin G. Whitmore after receiving Whitmore’s letter, not extant, date uncertain.
March 28 Thursday – Sam was en route on the S.S. Paris for Havre, France.
March 31 Sunday – Sam was en route on the S.S. Paris for Havre, France.
April – Harper’s Monthly Magazine began publishing serially and anonymously, Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, which ran through April 1896 [MTHHR 144n2], publishing it as a book in May 1896 with Mark Twain’s name on the spine and cover but not the title page. See Apr. 15 to Harrison, for Sam’s condition of anonymity and penalty should it be broken. See also Feb. 23 and Mar. entries.
April 2 Tuesday – On the S.S. Paris en route to Southampton, Sam wrote to Clarence C. Buel, editor of Century Magazine.
Before I left I put in nearly a whole night trying to write something for the October number; but it was only a doubtful success, so I had to pigeonhole it for a future effort.
April 3 Wednesday – On the S.S. Paris and nearing Southampton, Sam wrote two letters to H.H. Rogers. In the first (all but the first paragraph is lost) he announced they were approaching Southampton. He reported good weather and a smooth sea for the entire trip. His writing would not come, however:
But I have done no work. Every attempt has failed — a struggle every day, & retreat & defeat at night & all.
April 4 Thursday – In London, Sam left his calling card with a note for Chatto & Windus, his English publishers. “please pay S. Gardener & Co £13:5.0. & charge to me. / S.L. Clemens / Apl. 4/95” [MTP].
Sam described his dinner with Henry M. Stanley and a crowd of “thirty or forty”:
April 5 Friday – The dinner and gathering at Henry M. Stanley’s ran past midnight into this day. Later in the day Sam likely traveled on to Paris and 169 rue de l’Université to reunite with his family.