Clemens had fully decided, by this time, to live the year round in the
retirement at Stormfield, and the house at 21 Fifth Avenue was being
dismantled. He had also, as he said, given up his dictations for the
time, at least, after continuing them, with more or less regularity,
for a period of two and a half years, during which he had piled up about
half a million words of comment and reminiscence. His general idea
had been to add portions of this matter to his earlier books as the
copyrights expired, to give them new life and interest, and he felt that
he had plenty now for any such purpose.
He gave his time mainly to his guests, his billiards, and his reading,
though of course he could not keep from writing on this subject and that
as the fancy moved him, and a drawer in one of his dressers began to
accumulate fresh though usually fragmentary manuscripts... He read the
daily paper, but he no longer took the keen, restless interest in public
affairs. New York politics did not concern him any more, and national
politics not much. When the Evening Post wrote him concerning the
advisability of renominating Governor Hughes he replied:
If you had asked me two months ago my answer would have been prompt
& loud & strong: yes, I want Governor Hughes renominated. But it is
too late, & my mouth is closed. I have become a citizen & taxpayer
of Connecticut, & could not now, without impertinence, meddle in
matters which are none of my business. I could not do it with
impertinence without trespassing on the monopoly of another.
Howells speaks of Mark Twain's “absolute content” with his new home, and
these are the proper words' to express it. He was like a storm-beaten
ship that had drifted at last into a serene South Sea haven.
The days began and ended in tranquillity. There were no special morning
regulations: One could have his breakfast at any time and at almost
any place. He could have it in bed if he liked, or in the loggia or
livingroom, or billiard-room. He might even have it in the diningroom,
or on the terrace, just outside. Guests--there were usually
guests--might suit their convenience in this matter--also as to the
forenoons. The afternoon brought games--that is, billiards, provided
the guest knew billiards, otherwise hearts. Those two games were his
safety-valves, and while there were no printed requirements relating to
them the unwritten code of Stormfield provided that guests, of whatever
age or previous faith, should engage in one or both of these diversions.
Clemens, who usually spent his forenoon in bed with his reading and
his letters, came to the green table of skill and chance eager for
the onset; if the fates were kindly, he approved of them openly. If
not--well, the fates were old enough to know better, and, as heretofore,
had to take the consequences. Sometimes, when the weather was fine and
there were no games (this was likely to be on Sunday afternoons), there
were drives among the hills and along the Saugatuck through the Bedding
Glen.
The cat was always “purring on the hearth” at Stormfield--several
cats--for Mark Twain's fondness for this clean, intelligent domestic
animal remained, to the end, one of his happiest characteristics. There
were never too many cats at Stormfield, and the “hearth” included the
entire house, even the billiard-table. When, as was likely to happen at
any time during the game, the kittens Sinbad, or Danbury, or Billiards
would decide to hop up and play with the balls, or sit in the pockets
and grab at them as they went by, the game simply added this element
of chance, and the uninvited player was not disturbed. The cats really
owned Stormfield; any one could tell that from their deportment. Mark
Twain held the title deeds; but it was Danbury and Sinbad and the others
that possessed the premises. They occupied any portion of the house or
its furnishings at will, and they never failed to attract attention.
Mark Twain might be preoccupied and indifferent to the comings and
goings of other members of the household; but no matter what he was
doing, let Danbury appear in the offing and he was observed and greeted
with due deference, and complimented and made comfortable. Clemens would
arise from the table and carry certain choice food out on the terrace
to Tammany, and be satisfied with almost no acknowledgment by way of
appreciation. One could not imagine any home of Mark Twain where the
cats were not supreme. In the evening, as at 21 Fifth Avenue, there was
music--the stately measures of the orchestrelle--while Mark Twain smoked
and mingled unusual speculation with long, long backward dreams.
It was three months from the day of arrival in Redding that some guests
came to Stormfield without invitation--two burglars, who were carrying
off some bundles of silver when they were discovered. Claude, the
butler, fired a pistol after them to hasten their departure, and
Clemens, wakened by the shots, thought the family was opening champagne
and went to sleep again.
It was far in the night; but neighbor H. A. Lounsbury and Deputy-Sheriff
Banks were notified, and by morning the thieves were captured, though
only after a pretty desperate encounter, during which the officer
received a bullet-wound. Lounsbury and a Stormfield guest had tracked
them in the dark with a lantern to Bethel, a distance of some seven
miles. The thieves, also their pursuers, had boarded the train there.
Sheriff Banks was waiting at the West Redding station when the train
came down, and there the capture was made. It was a remarkably prompt
and shrewd piece of work. Clemens gave credit for its success chiefly
to Lounsbury, whose talents in many fields always impressed him. The
thieves were taken to the Redding Town Hall for a preliminary healing.
Subsequently they received severe sentences.
Clemens tacked this notice on his front door: