Vol 3 Section 0618
“Do you approve of a suit? If so, can you appoint a lawyer?—a tip-top one—no Colby, no Whitford, no Stern & Rushford. Do you think Tom Reed would take it?” [MTHHR 472-3].
Notes: n1&2 of the source: “Clemens had received, through the return address, letters advertising his books. These letters and, he assumed, hundreds like them, had been sent to families all over the United States, in envelopes bearing the return address ‘S.L. Clemens, U.S.A.,’ making it appear that he had made a personal appeal for sales. When confronted with the letters, Newbegin insisted that W.I. Squire (another agent) was responsible. Squire had just purchased 500 sets of the Popular Edition. (See R.G. Newbegin to Twain, 7 October 1901).” Note 2 discloses that Reed did take the case but the suit was abandoned when Squire died (Thomas B. Reed to SLC, 28 October 1901).
September 19 Thursday – In the morning before leaving Saranac Lake, N.Y. Sam wrote a goodbye note to Mr. and Mrs. George V. Duryee, the real estate agent who leased their house over the lake: “Hail and Farewell! / It has been Paradise to us all Summer” [MTP].
Probably this day or Sept. 18 Sam wrote a quick note to H.H. Rogers.
“Could you have this ad. put in the paper one time down in the corner is a cheap place, & charge. Rice or Harry has the umbrella & this will make them ashamed & they will give it up” [MTP]. Note: This is more fun from the “missing umbrella” of the Kanawha cruise. See prior listings, also Sept. 25. tentatively dated “? 15 September 1904” in MTHHR.
The Clemens family headed to Elmira for a weeks’ stay.
September 20 Friday – The Clemens family was in Elmira, likely at Quarry Farm. No letters describing their visit with Sue Crane and Charles J. Langdon are extant.
September 21 Saturday – The Clemens family was in Elmira.
September 22 Sunday – The Clemens family was in Elmira.
Sam wrote to C.F. Moberly Bell, acknowledging with gratitude his sending Dr. George Ernest Morrison’s (1862 -1920) book, likely: An Australian in China (1895). Morrison was a correspondent for the London Times in Peking [MTP]. Note: see Gribben’s listing on Morrison, p. 487.
September 23 Monday – The Clemens family was in Elmira.
September 24 Tuesday – The Clemens family was in Elmira, likely at Quarry Farm. Sam wrote to
H.H Rogers:
We shall reach town Thursday Evening—Grosvenor hotel.
If you get the umbrella, don’t send it there, let the Guaranty Trust take care of it for a day or two—get a check for it.
We are arriving with neither cook nor butler. Ys [MTHHR 581; misdated as 1904]. Note: Connects with the umbrella ad of Sept. 19, and also the Sept. 26 Thursday arrival at the Grosvenor Hotel.
The mystery of Sam’s missing umbrella was revealed by the New York Sun on this day, p. 5:
LOST, ONE 97-CENT UMBRELLA
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SLC used mourning border for most letters from Susy’s death on, then from Livy’s death on.