Vol 3 Section 0965

1903                                                                            ⁹⁰¹

 

Joe Twichell wrote to Sam, the letter not extant but referred to in his Oct. 9 reply.

 

October 9 Friday – At the Grosvenor Hotel in N.Y.C. Sam wrote an aphorism to Alfred E. Ann: “There is no sadder sight than a young pessimist—except an old optimist. / Truly Yours / Mark Twain. / Oct. 9/03” [MTP].

 

Sam also wrote to Joe Goodman in Alameda, Calif.

 

The cutting has just arrived. Poor Little Ward! What a silly invention life is—& how totally without dignity, & how tragically grotesque. What a mean & heartless crime the begetters of a child commit. Murder is fine & noble compared to it.

Livy is getting along pretty well. The trained nurse is taking a holiday after a year & 3 days’ constant service, & I am night-nurse myself, now. I leave the folding-doors ajar (we are in that ground-floor suite), & she sleeps so well that she hardly ever has to call me. This is a vast improvement over

 

August. We have actually secured a villa at last! (I mean, for sure). The news came by cable day before yesterday. I lost no time in paying my steamer-fares. We sail Oct 24. As soon as I learn the name I will tell you—but if I forget, “Mark Twain, Florence” is address enough. We must keep in touch the rest of the pilgrimage [MTP]. Note: “Little Ward” was Lewis P. Ward, compositor for the Alta California in 1864 and a well known gymnast at the Olympic Club in San Francisco. For a time Ward and Sam were roommates (see entries on Ward in Vol. I). On Oct. 2, Joe sent Ward’s obituary, though only the env. survives; see entry.

 

Sam also wrote to Joe Twichell.

 

Yours of yesterday has just arrived, & I have told Livy & she joins us in saying Good! The 19th it is! So we shall expect you & Harmony. I don’t suppose you can see Livy, but anyway it will do her heaps of good to know you are near by & under the same roof. You’ll see Clara & Jean & me. Also Katy. Katy goes to Italy with us. We have got a villa at last possession given Nov. 1. The news came by cable day before yesterday; & the price of the villa made Livy swear; but it is the first time in over 2 weeks, & is easily forgiven. I paid the steamer-fares at once [MTP].

 

October 10 Saturday – Sam also wrote to Frank N. Doubleday [MTP]. UCCL 12873 letter is not available.

 

Sam’s notebook: “H. [Harpers] has no subscription-rights in last 2 books. / 1847. Witnessed post mortem of my uncle through the keyhole” [NB 46 TS 25]. Note: curiously, it was his father, not his uncle; also probably not a regular post-mortem, and probably not much could be seen through the keyhole.

 

At the Grosvenor Hotel in N.Y.C. Sam inscribed a copy of Kipling’s The Five Nations to Livy: “From / Frank N. Doubleday / to / SL. Clemens / From / SL. Clemens / to / Livy Clemens / with very great love, / New York, Oct 10/03” [MTP].

 

John Hay’s article ran in Saturday Evening Post, “A Negative Assent,” p.7. Tenney: “The text of his letter to

 

George Gunn: he disapproves of Gunn’s proposal to pull a few proofs of MT’s ‘1601’ and asks Gunn to save him a copy. (This letter is reprinted as a part of the preface in many popular editions of ‘1601.’)” [Tenney: “A Reference Guide Third Annual Supplement,” American Literary Realism, Autumn 1979 p. 189].

 

October 10-14 Wednesday – At the Grosvenor Hotel in N.Y.C. Sam wrote to the Women’s Municipal League. The letter ran in the N.Y. Times on Oct 16, p.2 [MTP]. See Oct. 16.

 

 

Sam’s notebook: “Go to Riverdale, after Mrs. Day’s” [NB 46 TS 25]. Note: Alice Hooker Day (Mrs. John Calvin Day); the nature of the errand is unclear.

 

 

 

 

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