Quarry Farm 1903 DBD

August 1 Saturday – At Quarry Farm in Elmira, N.Y. Sam wrote to Richard Watson Gilder, enclosing the July 30 from his nephew, Samuel E. Moffett, which asked for a seconding nomination for Mary E. Moffett for membership in the National Arts Club.

August 12 Wednesday – At the Grosvenor Hotel in N.Y.C. Sam wrote to daughter Jean at Quarry Farm in Elmira, N.Y.

August 13 Thursday – One of Sam’s notes to his invalid wife inform us of his activities this day at the funeral of William E. Dodge, Jr. (1832-1903), Riverdale neighbor, who died at age 71 on Aug. 9 in Bar Harbor, Maine. The funeral was held at the Presbyterian Church in Riverside at 10:30 a.m. Sam’s note, on or just after this day:

August 15 Saturday – Margaret M. (not further identified), an 11-year-old girl wrote from Portland, Ore to Sam, a letter of admiration for his works [MTP].

August 16 Sunday – In N.Y.C. Sam wrote to Samuel Merwin. “Dear Mr. Merwin,—What you have said has given me deep pleasure—indeed I think no words could be said that could give me more” [MTP: MTLP 744].

August 18 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook: “Had to go to New York / [Horiz. Line separator] / 1896-1903” [NB 46 TS 23].

Mark Bennett of the World’s Fair 1904 wrote to Sam.

I hope you have a soft spot in your heart for Hank Monk, and all that pertains to him. It could hardly be otherwise when we consider how many millions of your readers in all parts of the world feel that they had a personal acquaintance with the man that Mark Twain made famous.

August 19 Wednesday – Sam’s notebook: “Col. [Harvey] sprung the ’95 contract—I had never heard of it before” [NB 46 TS 23].

August – At Quarry Farm in Elmira, N.Y. Sam inscribed his photograph with an aphorism to an unidentified person: “It is never too late to mend. There is no hurry. / Truly Your friend / Mark Twain ‘ New York, August 1908” [MTP].

August or September – In N.Y.C. Sam wrote to daughter Clara in Elmira.

Dear Ben, I expect to beat this letter home, but I don’t know yet.

August 20 Thursday – On Sept. 1 Sam wrote Joe Twichell that he was “in New York the whole month under wearing & hateful compulsion of business & the races were a blessed rest & diversion for me” [MTP]. Note: This may explain the lack of letters extant this month from him. The International Yacht Races began on Aug. 20. See insert advertisement.

August 24 Monday – Joe Twichell wrote from Blue Ridge, NY to Sam, wondering about Sam’s past “invitation” forthcoming for watching a yacht race on Mr. Rogers’ yacht. A newspaper which had reached him “in the heart of the Adirondacks” told of a yacht race, and if his attendance was counted on he would like to write Rogers an apology for being unable to come. He prayed Livy was improving, whom he expressed love for. “The prospect of your expatriation, except as it means benefit to her, is to us extremely dismal.

August 27 Thursday – Sam’s notebook: “A P H / Let him climb his own ears & jump off into space. Lo, we are tired of him” [NB 46 TS 23]. Note: possibly Theodore Roosevelt.

August 29 Saturday – At the Grosvenor Hotel in N.Y.C. Sam wrote to Will Larrymore Smedley, artist in Chatauqua, N.Y., thanking him for the landscape; Sam would send to Riverdale for it [MTP]. Smedley had illustrated a newer two-volume edition of GA and would also illustrate the small volume The Dog’s Tale in 1904.

August 3 Monday – Sam’s notebook: “Aug. 3 deposited $500 coupons, in Guaranty [Trust Co.] / [Horiz. Line separator] / The farmer sows, the broker reaps” [NB 46 TS 22]. Also, he rec’d receipt from Charles Fairchild & Co. for $16,000 in American Mechanical Cashier Co. bonds [TS 33].

August 30 Sunday – The New York Herald ran a self-interview, “Mark Twain, Able Yachtsman, on Why Lipton Failed to Lift the Cup” [Budd, Collected 2: 1008].

August 31 Monday – Sam returned to Elmira, either this day or the next. In his account to Twichell of Sept. 1 he complained of being in N.Y. the whole month for business.

August 4 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook: “Deposited $1,000 in Lincoln for Guaranty Trust. Sent by messenger from Grosvenor” [NB 46 TS 22].

Richard Watson Gilder wrote to Sam.

August 5 Wednesday – Sam’s notebook: “Brought away International Navigation Co. coupons for Feb. & Aug. 1904 and Feb. 1905 ($1,500), & shall leave them with Mr. Rogers. / Paid for my box at Produce Exchange Safe Deposit, in advance from March 1904 to March 1905 ($10.)” [NB 46 TS 22].

Chatto & Windus’ Jan. 1, 1904 statement to Clemens shows 2,000 2s.0d. copies of The Stolen White Elephant were printed, for a total printed to date of 14,600 [1904 Financials file MTP].

August 6 Thursday – Walter Reid of The Lincoln Safe Deposit Co. wrote a receipt to Sam for “1 Bdl. Of blankets in white condition unknown No. 27898” [MTP].

August 7 Friday – Sam’s notebook: “The comedy-tragedy visit to the Austrian Grand Duchess” [NB 46 TS 22]. Note: Sam was recollecting. Also put under Aug. 7 was a listing for Nov. 4—see entry.

August 8 Saturday – Sam’s notebook: “20 Manufac / 20 commission / 30 branches & collection / 8% losses. / 7 wear & tear, clerks &c / Profit is 15%. / It is really 25% no doubt” [NB 46 TS 22-23]. Note: musings about Am. Pub. Co.’s profits?

August 9 Sunday – Sam’s notebook: “A P H / As concerns Christ there are some uncertainties but for our solace we know one thing for sure—He was not a Christian” [NB 46 TS 23].

July 1 Wednesday – At 8:30 a.m. Sam, Livy, and her trained nurse, Miss Margaret Sherry, left the Riverdale house and went down the hill to get on a launch. From the launch to Rogers’ yacht Kanawha, then down river to the Lackawanna R.R. dock at Hoboken, the group made the 10 a.m. train for the long ride to Quarry Farm in Elmira. They arrived at 4:40 p.m. Clara and Jean were to follow them the first week in August. In his July 2 to the Huttons Sam described the trip, and put it to this day:

July 10 Friday – Livy wrote to daughter Clara “about her admiration for [Louis] Agassiz’s fortitude in facing the prospect of blindness when he was a young man; he practiced the study of fossils by touch alone so that he would not be forced to give up his career [Gribben 12: MTP].

Sam’s notebook: “Telegraphed Collier he better get definite 10 day option to purchase from Bliss & stop any farming-out projects / The week with the Gov. Gen. of Canada” [NB 46 TS 21].

July 11 Saturday – At Quarry Farm in Elmira, N.Y. Sam wrote to Hélène Elisabeth Picard.

“I thank you, with enthusiasm, for the moving & beautiful Joan pictures. They are a delight to the eye & an exaltation to the spirit. Thank you again!”

Sam then related the trip from Riverdale to Elmira and gave Livy’s status since arriving:

July 12 Sunday – At Quarry Farm in Elmira, N.Y. Sam wrote to Samuel M. Bergheim, director of the Plasmon Syndicate, London. The letter is not extant but referred to in Bergheim’s July 29 reply.