March 18 Monday – Sam, Isabel Lyon, and Paddy Madden reached Bermuda.

Isabel Lyon’s journal: We reached Bermuda sailing in along that darling channel about 9:30. We hadn’t any packing to do, so we could enjoy every moment of it, for we were going to spend the night on the ship. We drove at once to the Princess Hotel to call on Mildred Howells and on Mrs. Stevens, and then we went for a sail among the islands in one of the sweet native boats. A hasty scramble of a luncheon, Paddy and I eating spinach and potatoes left by Mr. Binny, and we jumped into a cab and we went to the Court House to attend a meeting which is to decide whether or not Bermuda shall have the right to have electric power and lights and all the other hideous modern things. The removal of the Garrison has been a bad thing for the island, for with the removal of the Garrison, England stops the payment of over a million pounds for the support of the island, and the condition there is a grave one. We were too late for the meeting and so drove over to call on Mrs. Peck who lives in an old, old house on the Paget side. The house is infinitely charming, with a good deal of nice old furniture in it, and long ago was Government House. On either side of the drawing room fireplace are 2 recesses, really little rooms with a high window in each, and these were known as the powder rooms, for the ladies used to withdraw into them to rebeautify themselves when balls and plays were given there by the Governor. Mr. Peck went down on the Bermudian with us, and Mrs. Peck lives there all the winter through. Then the King was tired. I saw the weary sagging arrive all over his body, and the grey look came into his face, so we drove hastily home to the ship, after making some photographs of him as he stood on the pretty porch, and he went to sleep. At 7:30 we dined at the Princess [Hotel] with Mr. Aertsen and Binny as guests. Had such a good dinner and then again the weariness crept over the King, he swore at his salad, because he couldn’t cut it with a dull sided fork, and then back we went to the ship. It was so sweet and so quiet, and although the darkeys were loading potatoes and carrots half the night, we hard no sound of it and slept until morning [MTP TS 122-123]. Note: Mr. Binny was Witter Bynner.

D. Hoffman writes:

With so little time to spend on land, Clemens and Miss Lyon had no need to unpack; they would spend the night on board. They rode at once to the Princess Hotel, where Mildred Howells, the daughter of Clemens’s old friend, had been staying since the previous Monday. After a sail about the Islands, they took a carriage to Paget and called on Mrs. Peck. She had been at Inwood “all winter through,” Miss Lyon noted. Clemens got tired, and retreated to the ship for a nap. That night when they dined at the Princess he grew tired again, Miss Lyon wrote, and “swore at his salad, because he couldn’t cut it with a dull-sided fork.” Their few hours on the Islands resulted in another absurdity. The same Tuesday edition of the Royal Gazette reported Mark Twain’s arrival and Mark Twain’s departure [80].

E.S. Duryee wrote from Springfield, Mass. to ask Sam about his note on p.178 of CS that he knew of “a simple method for curing the drink habit.” Was it the Oppenheimer Institute’s method? [MTP]. Note: Lyon wrote on the letter: “It is not the Oppenheimer Ins & you will find the method he speaks of in a very early chapter in Following the Equator”