Vol 3 Section 0082
June 4 Friday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam wrote to Bram Stoker, thanking for and complimenting him on his book, Dracula, which had just issued; Stoker inscribed a copy of the book to
him on June 1 [MTP: Parke-Bernet Galleries catalog].
June 5 Saturday – The N.Y. Times under its “Essays” column, p. BRA3, included a review of Sam’s How to Tell a Story and Other Essays, by Mark Twain. New York: Harper & Brothers. $1.50.
In this column Mark Twain gives curious hints as to the construction of stories, and his method of creation. In the volume also are given the “Private History of the Jumping Frog,” “Traveling with a Reformer,” “What Paul Bourget Thinks of Us,” and some radical views of Cooper. THE TIMES has had its word about Mark Twain as a critic. His bias and exaggerations are curious, and the volume is worth reading to learn how great these are.
June 6 Sunday
June 7 Monday
June 8 Tuesday – Clara Clemens’ 23rd birthday [MTP].
June 9 Wednesday – The Hartford Courant: June 9, p.8, “Mark Twain’s Old House”:
Building Where He Was Born is Being Torn Down.
A dispatch from Mexico, Mo. says that the old house in which “Mark Twain” was born, in Florida, near that town, is being torn down to make way for a new residence. The old house has long been one of the interesting landmarks of the town. Numerous calls have been made upon Mrs. Roney, the owner of the property, for bits of wood with which to make walking sticks and other souvenirs.
June 10 Thursday – Andrew Lang wrote to Sam
I have lost our entire address. Mrs. Lang wonders if you could lunch…alone, with us one day, and Lord Lorne is anxious to see you, if possible—I told him I would write.
I was reading Huck, lately, and am more certain than ever that Huck is the Great American Novel, usually spoken of as a glory of the future [MTP]. Note: Sam met and stayed with the Marquis of Lorne and Princess Louise (John D.S. Campbell) in Ottawa from May 23 to 28, 1883. See entries.
June 11 Friday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam replied to the June 10 of Andrew Lang, asking him to name the day and he’d be:
“…very glad to come. I shall be delighted to see Lord Lorne again. I have a bad memory, but I have not forgotten any considerable detail of the pleasant time which he & the Princess gave me in Ottawa” [MTP].
Sam also wrote to Frank Marshall White asking if there would be room for his daughters to go with
them “the morning of the 19th…they might be useful to me in helping to notice details” [MTP]. Note: The object of the trip is unknown.
June 12 Saturday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam wrote a postcard to Frank Marshall White: “Come down, now, & let us see if we can invent some way to repair the enormous damage which your cablegram has done me” [MTP].
June 13 Sunday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam began a note to John Y. MacAlister that he finished on June 14.
SLC used mourning border for most letters from Susy’s death on, then from Livy’s death on.