Just at this time, Dr. William Lyon Phelps, of Yale, was giving a literary talk to the Teachers’ Club, of Hartford, dwelling on the superlative value of Mark Twain’s writings for readers old and young.  Mrs. F. G. Whitmore, an old Hartford friend, wrote Clemens of the things that Phelps had said, as consolation for Eve’s latest banishment.  This gave him a chance to add something to what he had said to the reporters.

To Mrs. Whitmore, in Hartford: 

Feb. 7, 1907.  Dear Mrs. Whitmore,—­But the truth is, that when a Library expels a book of mine and leaves an unexpurgated Bible lying around where unprotected youth and age can get hold of it, the deep unconscious irony of it delights me and doesn’t anger me.  But even if it angered me such words as those of Professor Phelps would take the sting all out.  Nobody attaches weight to the freaks of the Charlton Library, but when a man like Phelps speaks, the world gives attention.  Some day I hope to meet him and thank him for his courage for saying those things out in public.  Custom is, to think a handsome thing in private but tame it down in the utterance.

I hope you are all well and happy; and thereto I add my love. 
                              Sincerely yours,
                                        S. L. Clemens.

In May, 1907, Mark Twain was invited to England to receive from Oxford the degree of Literary Doctor.  It was an honor that came to him as a sort of laurel crown at the end of a great career, and gratified him exceedingly.  To Moberly Bell, of the London Times, he expressed his appreciation.  Bell had been over in April and Clemens believed him concerned in the matter.

To Moberly Bell, in London: 

21 Fifth Avenue, May 3, ’07
dear Mr. Bell,—­Your hand is in it! and you have my best thanks.  Although I wouldn’t cross an ocean again for the price of the ship that carried me, I am glad to do it for an Oxford degree.  I shall plan to sail for England a shade before the middle of June, so that I can have a few days in London before the 26th. 
Sincerely,
S. L. Clemens.

He had taken a house at Tuxedo for the summer, desiring to be near New York City, and in the next letter he writes Mr. Rogers concerning his London plans.  We discover, also, in this letter that he has begun work on the Redding home and the cost is to come entirely out of the autobiographical chapters then running in the North American Review.  It may be of passing interest to note here that he had the usual house-builder’s fortune.  He received thirty thousand dollars for the chapters; the house cost him nearly double that amount.

To H. H. Rogers, in New York: