April 6 Monday – Mr. and Mrs. John Bergheim lunched with Sam in the Riverdale house. They would sail for England the next morning [Apr. 7 to MacAlister].
Adeline W. Sterling wrote to Sam, enclosing letters and clippings on Christian Science. After investigating “alleged cures” of the cult, Sterling decided not to join [MTP].
April 7 Tuesday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam cabled John Y. MacAlister in London, receipt of £35 “in full payment for article entitled ‘Amended Obituaries,’ sold …to Lloyd’s Weekly” [MTP].
Sam also wrote a letter to John Y. MacAlister that he forgot to post and finished on May 8.
April 9 Thursday – Sam’s notebook : “Gave Francis Perry Elliott my Postal-Check scheme for examination, he to return the MS in a fortnight” [NB 46 TS 14]. Note: Sam later penciled in, “Returned,” Francis P. Elliott (1861-1924), author, editor, with Harper & Bros. (1898-1900), at this time managing ed. of Home Magazine.
April 10 Friday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote to John White Alexander, illustrator.
I have an engagement & must lose the pleasure of being there, but I thank you heartily for remembering me & offering me a chance to share in the good times you are going to have. We shall never have a more capable or a kinder Secretary than Mr. Gage was. When I was in Europe two years ago I asked him to pass two tons of baggage for me duty free, & I offered to divide. Not many would have done that [MTP].
April 11 Saturday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote to Franklin G. Whitmore.
“Is the man still in the market who offered you $20,000 & a house on Gillette street? If so, take him up— then sell the Gillette street house straight off, for the best price you can get. Rid me of the Hartford house. If any man wants to pay $25,000 cash for it, let him have it” [MTP].
April 13 Monday – Sam took to his bed with a “heavy cold” which turned into bronchitis. He wrote of the five day stay in bed on Apr. 17 to Bigelow.
April 14 Tuesday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote to William Dean Howells.
I shall do my best to enclose the enclosure, & be to that degree eccentric.
April 15 Wednesday – Sam’s notebook: “Marriage of Julian Hawthorne’s daughter / Ch[urch] New Jerusalem / 35th bet. Park & Lexn / 3 p.m. / [Horiz. Line separator] / J.P. Jones, 237 E 17th / dinner—8” [NB 46 TS 14].
April 16 Thursday – Frederick A. Duneka of Harper & Brothers wrote asking Sam if there was “any hope for a story or an article for the Christmas” issue; he suggested a couple of possible topics, and apologized for doing so, but was “striking in the air in the hope of firing your imagination” [MTP].
April 17 Friday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote to John Livingston Wright.
April 18 Saturday – In Riverdale, N.Y., Sam was still in bed with bronchitis.
April 19 Sunday – In Riverdale, N.Y., Sam was still in bed with bronchitis.
April 20 Monday – In Riverdale, N.Y., Sam, still in bed with bronchitis, wrote to Susan Crane.
April 21 Tuesday – The New York Times, p.9:
Elizabeth W. Lampton.
ST. LOUIS, Apr 21.—Miss Elizabeth W. Lampton, who for twenty-eight years had been a teacher in St. Louis schools, is dead of pneumonia. She was a cousin of Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain) and of Col. Henry Watterson, and a niece of the Rev. Dr. Frederick Pentecost. Her stories for children were widely known.
April 22 Wednesday – Charles S. Fairchild wrote to Sam, the letter not extant but referred to in Sam’s May 14 reply [MTP].
Sam’s notebook: “Mrs. John P. Jones / Dinner, 7.30. Clara / 237 East 17th / Tel: 2817—18th” [NB 46 TS 14].
April 23 Thursday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote to Dr. Wilson L. Hawkes in York, Maine, upset by being overcharged per visit.
April 24 Friday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Isabel V. Lyon wrote for Sam to Franklin G. Whitmore.
Mr. Clemens wishes me to send the enclosed from the Jewell Pin Co. to you, saying that “as they are now paying dividends, perhaps you can sell the stock—”
The enclosed notice from the Hartford P.O. came this morning, and Mr. Clemens wishes me to send that also‘ to you, saying that you will know what to do with it, and also he says that the Hartford P.O. people ought to know that they must send registered mail to you.
April 25 Saturday – The New York Times, p. 11:
Mark Twain Leases His House.
The property of Samuel Clemens, (“Mark Twain,”) on Benedict Avenue, Tarrytown, consisting of a dwelling, stables, and about eighteen acres of land, has been leased to Charles A. Gardiner, attorney for the Manhattan Railway Company. Although Mr. Clemens bought the property about a year ago, he has never lived there, but has continued to make the Appleton place, at Riverdale, his home.
Frank Bliss wrote to Sam.
April 26, before – Hilary Trent (pseud. of R.M. Manley) wrote to Sam. “I have written a book—naturally, which fact, however, since I am not your enemy need give you no occasion to rejoice. Nor need you grieve, though I am sending you a copy. If I knew of any way of compelling you to read it I would do so, but unless the first few pages have that effect, I can do nothing” [MTP]. Note: her book, Mr. Claghorn’s Daughter by the Ogilvie Publishing Co. (1903).
April 27 Monday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote to Frederick A. Duneka.
Yes, the collected set is being offered at $36.50, but it is not Bliss that is responsible, it is I. He is to keep within the requirements of the Harper contract, & leave the rest to me. Which is quite proper, as his house is only a subordinate partner in the set’s fortunes, I being the principal, the person mainly & perhaps two-thirdsly concerned. He wanted to try this cheap edition, but needed backing.
April 28 Tuesday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote a postcard to American Publishing Co. “War suspended. Truce proclaimed. The sheriff will find some other way to amuse himself. / Go ahead. There is nothing in your way now” [MTP]. Note: Sam referred to the conflicts between Harpers and Bliss. Bliss’s 29 Apr refers to a telegram.
Sam also wrote to Frank Bliss.
April 29 Wednesday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote to William Dean Howells.
April 30 Thursday – In Riverdale, Isabel V. Lyon and Sam wrote to an unidentified person , enclosing an aphorism: “Work & Play are words used to describe the same thing under differing conditions” [MTP].
Sam’s notebook:
April, late or May early – Sam wrote a short essay, “Reflections on a Letter and a Book,” so titled later by Paine. The piece was a response to a letter and book sent him by Hilary Trent (aka R.M. Manley). Sam was often irritated by such requests to read literary works, and took this instance to wax ridicule on the selfishness of the human race [AMT 1: 181, 520n181.3].
May 1 Friday – William Dean Howells wrote to Sam.
Though it isn’t quite down to your level, I don’t wonder you like my literature—it’s nearly all about you. But you’d better take a brace, and try to get up as high as “Putnam Place.” Now you’re sick, I ‘ve a great mind to have it out with [you] about Jane Austen. If you say much more I’ll come out and read “Pride and Prejudice” to you.