etc., until he had perhaps ten or a dozen very choice boxes of smoking material.  He took them all with gratitude and innocence.  He had never declared any dutiable baggage, entering New York alone, and it never occurred to him that he would need to do so now.  His trunk and bags were full; he had the cigars made into a nice package, to be carried handily, and on his arrival at the North German Lloyd docks stood waiting among his things for the formality of Customs examination, his friends assembled for the explosion.

They had not calculated well; the Custom-House official came along presently with the usual “Open your baggage, please,” then suddenly recognizing the owner of it he said: 

“Oh, Mr. Clemens, excuse me.  We have orders to extend to you the courtesies of the port.  No examination of your effects is necessary.”

It was the evening of Monday, April 3d, when he landed in New York and went to the Hotel Glenham.  In his notes he tells of having a two-hour talk with Howells on the following night.  They had not seen each other for two years, and their correspondence had been broken off.  It was a happy, even if somewhat sad, reunion, for they were no longer young, and when they called the roll of friends there were many vacancies.  They had reached an age where some one they loved died every year.  Writing to Mrs. Crane, Clemens speaks of the ghosts of memory; then he says: 

I dreamed I was born & grew up & was a pilot on the Mississippi & a miner & a journalist in Nevada & a pilgrim in the Quaker City & had a wife & children & went to live in a villa at Florence—­& this dream goes on & on & sometimes seems so real that I almost believe it is real.  I wonder if it is?  But there is no way to tell, for if one applies tests they would be part of the dream, too, & so would simply aid the deceit.  I wish I knew whether it is a dream or real.

He was made handsomely welcome in New York.  His note-book says: 

    Wednesday.  Dined with Mary Mapes Dodge, Howells, Rudyard Kipling &
    wife, Clarke,—­[ William Fayal Clarke, now editor of St. Nicholas
    Magazine.]—­Jamie Dodge & wife.

    Thursday, 6th.  Dined with Andrew Carnegie, Prof.  Goldwin Smith,
    John Cameron, Mr. Glenn.  Creation of league for absorbing Canada
    into our Union.  Carnegie also wants to add Great Britain & Ireland.

It was on this occasion that Carnegie made his celebrated maxim about the basket and the eggs.  Clemens was suggesting that Carnegie take an interest in the typesetter, and quoted the old adage that one should not put all of his eggs into one basket.  Carnegie regarded him through half-closed lids, as was his custom, and answered: 

    “That’s a mistake; put all your eggs into one basket—­and watch that
    basket.”