Vol 3 Section 1101
Sam inscribed one of the Gessford photos of himself taken at Lee, Mass in July to Ralph W. Ashcroft:
“Oct 1904 / To R.W. Ashcroft, with the kindest regards of / Mark Twain” [Courtesy of Ken Atkins of
ThePastOnline.com, who obtained the photo from Ashcroft’s nephew, Mr. Crossman].
October 1 Saturday
October 2 Sunday
October 3 Monday
October 4 Tuesday – The postponed dedication of the Fairhaven church ( Unitarian Memorial ) that Rogers built and dedicated to his mother. (See Sept. 21) was carried out this day; in his Oct. 7 to Lyon, Sam claimed he’d been “too busy dedicating churches in Fairhaven” to write Jean. It’s not known just when he went to Fairhaven, nor how long he stayed, but the Oct. 7 note suggested he was at least there the day of dedication, which was Oct. 4. The lack of any outgoing letters for the prior weekend suggests perhaps he spent several days in Fairhaven.
October 4-December 8, 1908 – Sometime during this period Sam wrote from N.Y.C. to Melville Elijah Stone, President of Associated Press, N.Y.C.
Dear Stone: / The correction I wish made is a matter of figures about publishers. It should read thus:
“They publish an annual output of five or six thousand new books, & presumably the result is an average profit on each of a thousand dollars—say, an aggregate of five or six millions,” etc.
Now those figures are all right—but in the MS you will see that they add up crazily [MTP].
October 5 Wednesday
October 6 Thursday
October 7 Friday – In N.Y.C. at the Grosvenor Hotel, Sam dictated a letter to Ralph W. Ashcroft for Isabel V. Lyon about the purchase of stock from Ashcroft.
Dear Miss Lyon: / Please fill up stub of check No. 68 in the Guaranty Trust Co. with the amount: “$4000,” the name: “R. W. Ashcroft,” and the explanation: “first payment completing purchase of International Spirit Pen [sic Spiral Pin] Co. stock.”
Please also send me another numbered Guaranty check, (in blank,) to the Grosvenor.
Please give my love to Jean. I expect to write to her to-day. I have been too busy dedicating churches in Fairhaven to do it earlier [MTP]. Note: the “Spirit” vs. “Spiral” may be a TS error.
October 8 Saturday – George W. Hobbs of Hobbs Bros. Carriage Builders, Ninevah, NY, wrote a letter of condolence and admiration to Sam [MTP].
An unidentified person from Freemantle, Western Australia sent Sam a picture pamphlet of aborigines; no note enclosed [MTP].
October 9 Sunday – Muriel M. Pears wrote to Sam. She planned to sail for New York early in December and divide her “three short months” between NY and Washington. She thought it would be disloyal to pass through without seeing him [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Put this in the tin box. SLC”
October 10 Monday – Edmund Dene Morel, co-founder of the English Congo Reform Assoc. first wrote to Sam. Morel announced that he was sending by express messenger a packet of Congo literature:
“…it includes …a special copy of the Memorial, which I would like you to keep and show to any friends as a document of perhaps unique historical interest…” [Gribben 472: MTP]. Morel also said the Earl of Norbury (William Brabazon
SLC used mourning border for most letters from Susy’s death on, then from Livy’s death on.