Vol 3 Section 0697

1902                                                                            ⁶³⁹

“In 1829 a clergyman found still one thing that a comet was sent for, because while it was in the heavens all the cats in Westphalia got sick. But in 1868 that whole scheme was swept away and the comet was recognized to be only a pleasant summer visitor, and as for the cats and flies they never were so healthy as they were then. [Laughter.] From that time dates the great step forward that your profession has taken.” [Laughter and applause.]

Sam also sent a night telegram to H.H. Rogers.

“Cant get away this week have company here from tonight till middle of next week will Kanawha be sailing after that & can I go as Sunday school Supt at half rate Answer and prepay” [MTHHR 482-3]. Note: the source cites a draft of the telegram and notes that “The telegram itself does not exist and may not have been sent.”

March 9 Sunday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote to David Alexander Munro (1844-1910), assistant editor to George B. Harvey of the North American Review, and Greek scholar.

To-morrow I shall send you an article of perhaps 5,000 words for the North American; but if you are not going to have room for it in the very next number (April) please telephone me as soon as you have glanced at it, so that I can send it elsewhere. It needs to come out quickly, for the Prince is the text mainly [MTP: Stan V. Henkels catalog: Apr. 23, 1924, No. 1352, Item 69].

Sam’s notebook: “It must have been to-day that the N.Y. Journal man came the second time—also the first time, & got neither sight of me nor word from me. Fletcher saw him—& Katy. (I am writing this March 13)” [NB 45 TS 5].

Livy’s diary: “Marie van Vorst dined & spent the night” [MTP: DV161].

March 10 Monday – The Hearst newspapers New York American and Journal and San Francisco Examiner and New York Evening Journal ran a story with Mark Twain’s reaction to a recent interview

with Mrs. John Jacob Astor, before she sailed the morning of Mar. 8

Doing in Society”]. She was quoted:

“The men who have amassed their millions in all sorts of ways have not had advantages in their youth; they have never had the college education without which no man can be a gentleman”

Note: In the article Sam was quoted at length, objecting to Mrs. Astor’s requirement of a “gentleman.” Budd points out that “Twain convincingly insisted that this story was a fabrication,” and so the article with his purported remarks is not quoted here, save for this sentence from the fabricated speech, which is often quoted (or, rather misquoted) as being what Mark Twain thought a gentleman was: “A gentleman, a kindly, courteous, unselfish man, who thinks first not of himself, but of his fellow man, that is what a gentleman is.” See Budd’s “Mrs. Astor Injures Mark Twain’s Feelings,” Critical Essays on Mark Twain 1867-1910 (1982), p. 172-3. See Mar. 12 NB entry, where Sam asked $5,000, ostensibly in damages from the Journal.

Sam’s notebook: “Leave 9.57, meet Mr. Wright at G.C. Station at 10.30—see Mr. Butters” [NB 45 TS 5].

Note: Howard E. Wright and Henry A. Butters were officers of the American Plasmon Co.

Livy’s diary: “Sam & Mary Moffett, came for tea & dinner” [MTP: DV161].

Sam also went to William Evarts Benjamin’s N.Y.C. office inquiring about a house for sale in Tarrytown [Mar. 11 from Benjamin]. Note: though Livy purchased a Tarrytown house while Sam was on the Kanahwa, this shows he knew of available houses in Tarrytown before he left for the cruise.

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