Vol 3 Section 0768
foreign policy alone which pitted them against each other. See Edmund Morris’ The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt for an excellent treatment on TR’s development.
July 30 Wednesday – In York Harbor, Maine Sam wrote to Franklin G. Whitmore. “The proposition to W. suggested in your letter of July 28 is satisfactory. You can make it whenever you think best. I will approve” [MTP]. Note: likely Sidney A. Witherbee who was negotiating for the purchase of the Hartford house.
Sam’s notebook: “Shumake butter. / Shumake berries, end of September—eat them / Martins & bluebirds [Line separator:] Doubleday proposes that I sell the Gospel, or the Which Was It, or the 1000 Years Hence in MS to either of 3 men. for 100,000…Will consult Mr. Rogers” [NB 45 TS 22-23]. Note: In ante-bellum days in the South, Shumake berries were boiled with Walnut peelings to make dye.
July 31 Thursday – In York Harbor, Maine Sam replied to L. Fred Silvers’ July 16 of Elizabeth, N.J.
It does indeed interest me—and greatly pleases me, too. Also it squares an old account, heals an old sore, banishes an old grievance: the turning of Huck Finn out of the Concord (Mass) circulating library 17 years ago because he was immoral & said he would stand by Jim & go to hell if he must.
I think your selection of authors is a healthy advance upon the old-time S. S. library menu.
Sincerely Yours / SL. Clemens
P. S. But to be strictly honest with you, I very greatly value those old goody goody books, too [;] they made clean & honest children [MTP]. Note: Silvers was a librarian in Elizabeth, N.J.
Note: Silvers is not further identified, but in a NY Times article, “Pleasant Reading,” p. BR13, May 24, 1902, Silvers made several book recommendations, including CY, AC, TS and Twain’s sketch, “The Traveler’s Story.”
Marquis of Equilles wrote a short note from London praising Sam for JA, and thanking him “for the very courteous letter” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “From the Marquis” and then “? Milne?”
August 1 Friday – In York Harbor, Maine Sam wrote to Elizaveta N. Malashkina.
Dear Miss Elizabeth. I sent your letter to Paris, to my friend the great pianist Gabrilowitch (if that’s the way he spells his formidable name) & he put it into German for me and returned it. We are summering far from Riverdale, & I haven’t a photograph. But when we go home in October I will get one in New York & Autograph it & send it to you. (I have made a note of it in my note-book). I’ll not forget it [MTP].
Franklin G. Whitmore wrote to Sam, enclosing Sidney A. Witherbee’s latest proposition for the Hartford house, which differed from his last offer. The offers involved a new mortgage, bonds, interest, tax payments, necessary repairs, improvments and the like, but did not involve Witherbee’s cash, which Whitmore thought was “tied up at the present” [MTP]. Note: Sam referred this letter, which confused him, to H.H. Rogers on Aug. 2.
John M. Sosey, secretary of the Missouri Press Association wrote Sam of his honorary membership.
Sosey’s letter is not extant but referred to in Sam’s Aug. 6 reply. The resolution reads as follows:
Whereas, Dr. Samuel L. Clemens, better known as “Mark Twain,” was born in Monroe county, learned the printer’s trade in Hannibal, has been an editor, and while he now lives in another state, he is, and always will be a Missourian: therefore be it
Resolved. That said Mark Twain be made an honorary life member of the Missouri Press Association.
The ledger books of Chatto & Windus show that 1,500 additional copies of the 3s.6d. edition of The American Claimant were printed, totaling 11,500 [Welland 237; 1904 Financial Files MTP].
SLC used mourning border for most letters from Susy’s death on, then from Livy’s death on.