September 15 Thursday – The Clemens family left Frankfurt, headed for Lucerne, Switzerland, a trip of some 207 miles [NB 32 TS 24; Sept. 17 to Whitmore]. Sam related that Livy’s condition forced them to stop for the night in Basel:
September 16 Friday – Sam’s notebook shows the record of travel:
Left Frankfurt Sep. 15. / Stayed over-night at Basel. / Left Basel at 2.10 p.m. Sept. 16, reached Lurcerne 5.15 [NB 32 TS 24].
Sam told of the rest of the trip to Lucerne, Switzerland, where they stayed at the Hotel Des Balances [Sept. 17 to Whitmore]:
Hard trip, because it was one of those trains that gets tired every seven minutes & stops to rest three quarters of an hour. It took us 3 ½ hours to get here, instead of the regulation 2.20. We reached here Friday evening & will leave tomorrow (Tuesday) morning [MTP, Sept. 18 to Crane]. Note: Sam’s date or day of the week was off here, because Sept. 19 was a Monday.
September 17 Saturday – At the Hotel Des Balances Au Lac in Lucerne,
September 20 Tuesday – Sam had outlined a travel schedule for the family in his Sept. 18 to Sue Crane, Which followed their travels as related in his Sept. 30 to Sue Crane. The family left Lucerne and traveled to Milan, Italy.
Then we started, doubtful if we could go beyond Lugano. However, it was a good train & Livy felt better & we resolved to push on to the frontier — for we were mighty anxious to know what our fate was to be there. Good luck — I had a letter from the Italian Consul General at Frankfort, & it glided us over the border unexamined & undelayed. So we shoved along for Milan an hour & a half further, & arrived there about half-past 5 p.m., 8 hours out from Lucerne. We had to stay & rest in Milan two nights…[MTP].
Sam’s notebook gives the times of departure and arrival:
Stayed [in Lucerne] till Tuesday 20th, left at 9.20 a.m. passed the frontier at Chiasso, trunks unopened at 3.55 reached Milan at 5.23 [NB 32 TS 24].
September 22 Thursday – The Clemens family left Milan at 11:45 a.m. and traveled five hours to Bologna, Italy. A
We had to stay & rest at Milan two nights; then we made a break for — well, Bologna any how, & Florence if things went promisingly. At Bologna Livy felt well enough to try the final 3-hour dash, & we made it — arriving in Florence at something over seven hours out from Milan. From Nauheim to Florence 12 days — & I was the courier! The longest conducted trip since Moses went out of business.
Sam’s unpublished notebook shows a slightly different schedule:
Stayed two days: left Thursday 22d at 11.45 a.m. reached Florence 6.45 [NB 32 TS 24].
They likely spent the next two days at the Hotel New York, moving into the Villa Viviani on Sept. 25 [Sept. 24 to Phelps]. Once in Florence they sent for Dr. William Wilberforce Baldwin, but he was out of town. See Sept. 29 entry [Sept. 30 to Crane].
September 23 Friday – In Florence, Italy
September 25 Sunday – The Clemenses moved into the Villa Viviani, five miles outside of Florence, Italy [Sept. 24 to Phelps].
October 21, 1892 Friday: Winter is begun here, now, I suppose. It blew part of the hair off the dog yesterday & got the rest this morning [MTP].
10/22: The weather is magnificent, the ever-changing aspects of Florence & the hills a continuous intoxication to the eye. The variety of it is bewildering — yes, & unbelievable. I have never seen anything that remotely approached it. I am content to stay up here.
10/27: The first month is finished. We are wonted now. This carefree life at a Florentine villa is an ideal existence. The weather is divine, the outside aspects lovely, the days and nights tranquil and reposeful, the seclusion from the world and its worries as satisfactory as a dream. Late in the afternoons friends come out from the city & drink tea in the open air & tell what is happening in the world; & when the great sun sinks down upon Florence & the daily miracle begins they hold their breath & look. It is not a time for talk [MTB 957].
February 23 Thursday – Some historians see the bankruptcy on Feb. 23, 1893 of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad as the beginning of the Panic of 1893. Others point to a severe contraction on the N.Y. Stock Exchange which began on May 4. During the panic over 15,000 American businesses went under, some 500 banks failed, and by winter some eighteen percent of the work force was out of work. Kaplan writes, “One after another — the Erie in July, the Northern Pacific in August — the great railroads, more than seventy of them, were failing” . It was the worst depression in the history of the country. The Panic would greatly affect Webster & Co. and Sam’s efforts, and bring a final death knell to the Paige typesetter. Kaplan, “Clemens’ publishing house, an unsound enterprise even in the most favoring business circumstances, had borrowed heavily and was clearly headed for ruin”. It all began on this day with the failure of the Philly & Reading.
March 19 Sunday: I dreamed I was born, & grew up, & was a pilot on the Mississippi, & a miner & journalist in Nevada, & a pilgrim in the Quaker City, & had a wife & children & went to live in a Villa out of Florence — & this dream goes on & 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 applied 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 [MTP].
March 21, 1893 Tuesday - Mark Twain departs Florence for the States.
May 27, 1893 Saturday - Mark Twain returns to Florence.
June 15, 1893 - The Clemenses depart Florence and return to Munich, Germany