Vol 3 Section 0093

Mark Twain.

It relieves the feelings of the American public not a little to know that Mark Twain has declined the money that has been raised for him, in the supposition that he was impoverished. This sum had begun to indicate a possibility of tempting proportions, so that it argues some courage on the part of the expected recipient to refuse it altogether. It shows, however, that Mr. Clemens is a good American in spite of the fact that, like some other writers, he no longer cares to live in America. He commands high prices for his writings. He can at least support himself by his pen, he draws something of a royalty from his books; but the failure of the publishing firm of which he was backer involved him in a debt which he gave up nearly all of his possessions to pay. Like [Sir Walter] Scott, he is beginning late in life to earn his livelihood again; but he is the typical American writer, if we have one, and he stands high in the esteem and affection of the American people. They were willing to help him out of his pecuniary difficulties, but like him the better because he has resolved to get out by his own efforts.

July – Place unknown (but likely London): Sam sent aphorisms to Henry P. Child:

Universal brotherhood is the most precious thing we have, what there is of it.— Puddnhead Wilson’s New Calendar.

To succeed in the other trades, knowledge must be shown; in the law, the concealment of it will do.— Puddnhead Wilson’s New Calendar. / Truly Yours / Mark Twain / (S.L. Clemens) / July, 1897 [MTP]. Note: Ancestry.com in the U.K. has one record for Henry P. Child, b. ca. 1824 in Yorkshire.

Scribner’s July issue included a review of The Gilded age play [Tenney notes this review could not be found due to beginning and ends of issues in libraries often being cut, 27].

The Book Buyer July 1897 issue contained an article on Mark Twain, p. 566-9, which included three of James B. Pond’s 1895 photos of Sam on the dock and on the S.S. Warrimoo just before it left for his down under tour. The article carried the claim that this was the first publication of the pictures. Also included was Sam’s Apr. 7, 1887 letter to Grace W. Trout, advising her about her sister lecturing without experience. (See letter, in part, MTDBD 2; see more of these pictures in Overland with Mark Twain).

Sam’s notebook for July contains references to Johann Goethe’s Faust. A Tragedy. Gribben: [Twain] “made up a comic English slang translation of a few lines from Faust for the amusement of Henry W. Fisher in Vienna” [264: NB 42 TS 22]. Note: Henry W. Fisher (or Fischer) (1855-1932), correspondent for several American newspapers. Paine mentions Fisher [MTB 935]. Merle Johnson writes of Fisher in the introduction to Fisher’s 1922 book of reminiscences:

Fisher was in a unique position for contact with these men [Mark Twain and Eugene Field], both of whom he had met previously in the United States. He was one of the most widely known American correspondents in foreign parts; he had written for the Dalziel News Company (then a sort of United Press, dealing with European continent) letters from Paris, Berlin, St. Petersburg, Copenhagen, Belgrade, Vienna, Budapest, etc., that were telegraphed all over the world. He had acted as correspondent for the New York Telegraph, the New York World, the New York Sun, the London Evening News, the Paris Messenger and the St. James Gazette; he had written special articles for Harper’s Weekly, printed alongside of Mark Twain’s contributions. He knew, or at least had a smattering knowledge of, all European languages; he knew every European capital or resort by eyesight and insight; he had met the great personages of Europe. So it was quite in the nature of things that Mark and Field ran across Fisher at the common meeting places in foreign parts, the U.S. Embassies and Legations; likewise that these American writers accepted his guidance in the strange world they found themselves in [Abroad with Mark Twain and Eugene Field ix]. Note: on p. 62 of the source Fisher identifies first seeing Sam during General Grant’s review of the Army of Tennessee in Chicago in 1879 (Nov. 11) and of sitting next to Grant while listening to Sam’s “Babies” speech (Nov. 13, 1879). On June 6, 1932, at age 77, Fisher jumped from a ninth-floor window of a Miami, Florida Hotel leaving a suicide note that requested he be buried in a

SLC used mourning border for most letters from Susy’s death on, then from Livy’s death on.