Vol 3 Section 0552
Philanthropy, & I think that even you have never done anything with a pen that is more beautiful than that, or deeper & richer [MTP].
Sam also wrote to Judson Smith of the American Board of Missions, continuing to press his case against the Rev. Ament. Only the detail of “thirteen times” indemnities from the Boxer rebellion was in error, Sam wrote, not the rest of Ament’s actions. Sam’s letter in part:
As the case stands now, Mr. Ament has twice confessed that he took money from A to pay B’s debts with. In your late Open Letter to me it is noticeable that you have the correct opinion of that kind of conduct.
I have letters from several clergymen. It is observable that they & you are quite satisfied with Mr. Ament’s fashion of despoiling the innocent to square the damages created by the guilty—& why? Because it is in accordance with Chinese law & custom! It seems incredible. For broad humor, the situation puts opera bouffe to shame. …
I believe poor Mr. Ament has the unwisest set of friends, & about the unkindest, that ever a man in trouble had. They will not let his case rest, although they surely know that it has not a leg to stand on. If they would but be patient & wait; for I have done what no friend of his has had the common charity to do— written to China for the facts. But no, they cannot wait for facts, guesses & conjectures are good enough
[MTP].
March 11 Monday – Sam’s notebook: “Mr. Mitchell, 7.30 24 W.10th” [NB 44 TS 7].
At 1410 W. 10th, Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers, enclosing Whitmore’s Mar. 9.
Whitmore thinks as within. I sent the Pratt & Whitney letter back to Pratt & Whitney Co, & told them to send their bill to you & you would give it your personal attention. I haven’t heard any more from them [MTHHR 458]. Note: this date seems conjectural and is in brackets in the source. For there to have been enough time for Sam to receive Whitmore’s letter and write to P&W and then say he had not heard any more from them suggests several days had gone by, not just one or two.
March 12 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook: “Dora Wh[eeler] Keith ? Aldine dinner—see 19th Feb.” [NB 44 TS 7]. Note:
on Feb. 19 Sam entered and
then lined through: “Aldine dinner in honor of Howells, new Pres. Of Natl
Institute Arts
Letters,” reflecting perhaps a postponement or an
error.
Fatout lists a speech by Mark Twain at a dinner honoring William Dean Howells. No particulars are given but the above NB entry confirms [MT Speaking 668].
Paul Dana of the N.Y. Sun wrote to Sam: “That dispatch correcting the first report on Ament was from Chamberlain. He had written “1/3”, and I am informed that expression is common and goes for one word. The Telegraph Co. between Pekin and Chefoo left out the dash and made it “13.” I think Chamberlain corrected it himself when he found the error” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote “important” on the env. See Mar.10 reply to Smith.
March 13 Wednesday – Sam’s notebook: “2 p.m., U.S. Court Rooms, Jno. Shields, examiner, Post office” [NB 44
TS 7].
Sam Clemens testified before US Commissioner John Shields on a lawsuit brought by Rudyard Kipling against R.F. Fenno, publishers. The New York Times, Mar. 14, p.3, headlined that Mark Twain was a witness and smoked and testified.
MARK TWAIN A WITNESS
———
Summoned in Rudyard Kipling’s
SLC used mourning border for most letters from Susy’s death on, then from Livy’s death on.