December 27 Thursday – The New York Times ran this story on the front page:
INVITED HERE BY MARK TWAIN.
The Author Wants Friend in Colorado to Visit Him—How the Two Missed a fortune in 1863.
Special to the New York Times.
DENVER, Col., Dec. 26—Judge Adair Wilson of the State Court of Appeals has received an invitation [not extant] from his old friend Mark Twain to visit him in New York City.
December 28 Friday – Justus S. North wrote from Welaka, Fla. to Sam, unhappy that he’d purchased a volume entitled Library of Wit and Humor by Mark Twain (and others), and blaming Sam. North had discovered:
December 29 Saturday – At the “Country Club” (Quarry Farm) in Elmira., Sam wrote to James B. Pond. “We are on the way to New York. Any morning that you would like to talk, I am on deck at home at 10.30, but writing wastes time, for manifestly it accomplishes nothing. / Yours…” [MTP].
Irving S. Underhill wrote from Buffalo, N.Y. to Sam.
December 3 Monday – At 1410 W. 10th in N.Y.C., Sam wrote to Augustus T. Gurlitz (1843-1928), New York attorney representing Rudyard Kipling.
I thank you quite immeasurably for the Kipling set, & you must send for the Fenno lot whenever you need it, for I doubt if I get a chance in six months to study the matter….
If you didn’t get Howells to make an affidavit, he must do it. Everybody should help [MTP].
December 30 Sunday – The New York Herald ran a facsimile of Twain’s handwritten salutation from Mark Twain that had been sent originally to the Red Cross Society, and returned at Sam’s request. The facsimile published was dated Dec. 31, 1900; the copy to the Red Cross Society was originally dated Nov. 29, 1900, for use in a series of watch-meetings on New Year’s Eve, organized by the group’s manager, Frank D. Higbie, nephew of Calvin H. Higbie, Sam’s old mining partner.
December 31 Monday – At 1410 W. 10th in N.Y.C., Sam replied to Abner Cheney Goodell in Salem, Mass., who had written praise of his N.Y. Herald “salutation” of Dec. 30.
December 4 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook: “Plasmon to Hutton. / Aldine Club—evening—no reporters. W.W. Ellsworth. / Traveling with a corpse” [NB 43 TS 30]. Note: indeed there were reporters at the Aldine Club this evening. The NY Times reported on the dinner and Sam’s speech on Dec. 15: Mark Twain at the Aldine Club
December 5 Wednesday – At 1410 W. 10th in N.Y.C., Sam wrote to John Y. MacAlister. After some delay caused by registering the letter, Sam got MacAlister’s letter on Dec. 4, referred to in a cable, and then cabled his approval.
December 6 Thursday – Sam’s notebook: “St. Nicholas Society, Dinner Delmonico’s.(?)7 p.m.” [NB 43 TS 30].
December 7 Friday – At 1410 W. 10th in N.Y.C., Sam replied to Christian B. Tauchnitz.
Indeed I will do you that “great favor” with very great pleasure, and shall hold those books in high regard as a remembrancer of the pleasant relations which have subsisted unbroken between us this long stretch of years [MTP: TS Curt Otto, Verlag Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1912, p.126]. Note:Tauchnitz’ incoming not extant. See entries in Vol. I & II.
December 8 Saturday – L.J. Bridgman’s article, “To Mark Twain,” ran in Harper’s Weekly. Tenney: “Source: Listed in The Twainian, II (March, 1940), 3 as ‘poem illustrated by author’; a search of this issue was unsuccessful, and the citation appears to be incorrect” [32]
December 9 Sunday – [date in PDF box]
February 1 Friday – Sam’s notebook: “Tell the story of (the woman whose young daughter was seduced by her second husband) Tut Reynolds. / Laffan, 8 to meet Mrs. Millet” [NB 44 TS 4].
February 10 Sunday – Sam’s notebook: “Maybe the Welchs from Hartford” [NB 44 TS 6].
Charles Johnston of Flushing, N.Y. wrote compliments of Twain’s “Sitting in Darkness” article; he mentioned the pleasure of meeting him at Mrs. Boudinot Keiths’ Studio a few weeks ago [MTP]. Note: Mrs. Boudinot Keith was Dora Wheeler Keith, daughter of Candace Wheeler and longtime friend of the Clemenses.
February 11 Monday – Sam’s notebook: “Carnegie Hall, Lincoln’s birthday. School of citizenship & patriotism” [NB 44 TS 6].
The New York Times, Feb. 13, p.1, reported on this evening’s tribute to Lincoln and Sam’s speech at Carnegie Hall.
BLUE AND GRAY PAY TRIBUTE TO LINCOLN
———
Celebration at Carnegie Hall in Aid of Memorial University.
———
HOW TWAIN SAVED THE UNION
———
February 12 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook: “Harvey, 7.00. He will send carriage for me” [NB 44 TS 6].
At 1410 W. 10th in N.Y.C., Sam wrote to Albert Simmons.
“I wish I could be of service to you, in which case I should gladly avail myself of the opportunity, but I am unable for the reason that I have not written anything about the club, at any time so far as I remember” [MTP: Swann Galleries catalogs, Sept.14, 2000, Item 249]. Note: Simmons and the club are not identified.
February 13 Wednesday – [date in a PDF box]
At 1410 W. 10th in N.Y.C., Sam replied to retired General Oliver O. Howard’s Feb. 12 letter. “You are a busy man, and I thank you cordially for taking the time to say those pleasant and welcome words” [MTP].
Sam also wrote to the editor of the N.Y. Tribune . (This letter ran Feb. 15 in the paper on p. 3. Many other letters to the editor were printed about Twain’s “Sitting in Darkness” article.
February 14 Thursday – Sam’s notebook: “E.P. Clarke, 10.30. Yankee at Arthur / Paschal [sic Pascal] Institute 576 Lexington Ave—N.W. cor. of 51st. Say 9 p.m. Dine at Mr. Rogers” [NB 44 TS 6]. Note: See NB entry of Mar. 29, 1901 for same address and a Boys’ debate he attended and named the President of the group, Margaret Pascal. A Sept. 25, 1901 NY Times article, p.5, “Pascal Institute Plans” indentifies officers and also the involvement of Miss Grace Dodge.
February 15 Friday – Sam’s notebook: “Doubleday, 7 pm 111 E. 16th” [NB 44 TS 6].
Sam was unable to attend the Feb. 14 annual Sheriff’s Jury dinner at the Hotel Savoy, and so wrote a letter declining shortly before. The New York Tribune ran Twain’s letter on p.6:
SHERIFF’S JURORS DINE.
————
MARK TWAIN’S LETTER OF DECLINATION
AROUSES LAUGHTER.
February 16 Saturday – Sam’s notebook: “Dine—7.30 Leigh Hunt, Holland House” [NB 44 TS 6]. Note: Leigh S.J. Hunt. See Jan. 1.
At 1410 W. 10th in N.Y.C., Sam replied to Paschal H. Coggins (Sidney Marlow), who wrote on Feb. 13.
February 17 Sunday – Edwin L. Godkin wrote compliments of Twain’s “Sitting in Darkness” article [MTP].
Charles Erskine Scott Wood of Portland, Ore. wrote complimenting the “Sitting in Darkness” article— “it’s a great work. It’s effective, do it some more.” He would be in N.Y. around Mar. 8; was there a chance of seeing him? [MTP]. Note: Wood was a partner in the law firm of Williams, Wood & Linthicum.
February 18 Monday – At 1410 W. 10th in N.Y.C., Sam sent his decline-to-lecture form letter (see Feb. entry) to Wallace E. Mason, attorney and principal of the High School in Leominster, Mass. Note: (pronounced by natives and the editor’s daughter who lives there, as “Lemon stah”—displaying a native eschewing for the letter ‘R’) [MTP].
February 19 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook: “Aldine dinner in honor of Howells, new Pres. Of Natl Institute Arts & Letters” [NB 44 TS 6].
At 1410 W. 10th in N.Y.C., Sam wrote to nephew Samuel E. Moffett: “Please attend to him, Sam & tell him I am too ignorant of the matter & too busy” [MTP]. Note: the remainder of the letter is torn off; this may relate to the Montgomery request for family matter recently referred to Moffett.
February – The North American Review ran Mark Twain’s article, “To the Person Sitting in Darkness.” It was not included in any collections during his lifetime [Budd, Collected 2: 1006], though it was republished in pamphlet form. Note: He received many letters of response on this significant article, which recast him as a patriot in the eyes of many. There were critics, however, sometimes severe in their treatment of the piece and of Clemens.
February 2 Saturday – Sam’s notebook: “Speyor [sic ] calls for me. Afternoon, 330. East side poor?” [NB 44 TS 5]. Note: James Speyer (1861-1941), American banker, who, along with his wife, Ellin Prince Lowry Speyer (d. 1921) helped to organize the University Settlement Society in 1891 and was also involved in many social, educational, and cultural organizations in N.Y.C., including the Speyer school at Columbia University.