June 2 Thursday – Sam’s notebook in transit from Cadenabbia to Lucerne.
June 3 Friday – The Clemens family rested in Lucerne, Switzerland [NB 31 TS 50].
June 4 Saturday – Sam’s notebook: The Clemenses proceeded on to Frankfurt, Germany, where they took rooms at the Schwan Hotel [NB 31 TS 50].
June 5 Sunday – The Clemenses rested in Frankfurt, Germany at the Schwan Hotel [NB 31 TS 50].
June 6 Monday – The Clemenses left Frankfurt; Sam listed concerns in his notebook:
Left for Bad Nauheim at 12.37, after missing 1.05 train (express) through Joseph’s misinformation. / from here, 9 arr at Munich 2 stunden; Frankfurt, 8 from here Snellzug 2 hour in Frankft — 8 pm Munich. / Ask at Sommerhof’s for a physician. 12M. & 5 M.[arks] / Also what is his fee? / Shave. Cigars / Inquire about Clara’s ticket. / Shoes. Knife. / Can L. use my letter of credit? / About my date & train to Bremen / Tobacco. / No. 43. Night of 8th. Berlin to B Nauheim [NB 31 TS 51-2].
June 10 Friday – In Bad Nauheim, Germany Sam wrote to his daughter Clara in care of Frau Koch, 151 Kurfürstenstreet in Berlin, where she was studying piano.
Clara dear, we have moved, & we like our new quarters ever so much better than the old ones. Mrs. Hague & family are next to us on the same floor. They will stay till July 18. It would have been horribly lonesome for Mamma at that other place & I on the sea. This house is close to the bath & is almost in the shadow of the trees of the beautiful park. It’s a mighty profitable change.
June 11 Saturday – In Bad Nauheim, Germany Sam wrote to Frederick J. Hall of his departure on June 14 for New York. Livy and Jean and a French maid would stay at the resort at Bad Nauheim, with accommodations at the Villa Augusta Victoria. Susy and Sue Crane would travel around Switzerland. Clara would continue to study piano in Berlin.
On Oscar Wilde:
Sometime during their stay in Bad Nauheim, Germany, Sam met Oscar Wilde. Clara Clemens recorded the event, but alas, characteristically, she did not give us dates, only the place.
Excitement was caused one day, however, by the arrival of an English guest at the hotel, a gentleman who was of most pronounced appearance. In the dining-room his table was not far from ours, and we enjoyed watching him in conversation with two other gentlemen. He was remarkably dressed and highly vivacious in manner and speech. It was not difficult to recognize Oscar Wilde. He and Father became aware of each other at almost the same moment and rose to exchange greetings, although as far as I know they had never met before. I cannot remember that Father effected an acquaintance between the rest of his family and Oscar Wilde, but we were grateful that we had eyes with which to stare. We used them well, missing nothing from the gentleman’s carnation as large as a baby sunflower, to the colored shoes on his feet.
If only that dinner had had more courses. We started on the dessert we had seen him smile only twice, but he smiled so well!…Oscar Wilde had a memorable smile… [MFMT 113-4].
Note: Susy Clemens had also noted in a letter to Louise Brownell of seeing Wilde in Bayreuth, probably when Sam was traveling. See 1891 August, late entry.
Interesting here is Katy Leary’s instinctive reaction to her fellow-native Irishman is an interesting juxtaposition here (London, 1897):
And then Oscar Wilde, he lived right there behind us. He was the one they put in jail [two years of hard labor for “gross indecency”]. He was a very bad man, Oscar Wilde was, so bad you couldn’t talk about what he done….He always used to wear a sunflower in his buttonhole and dressed in velvet clothes and had long hair [Lawton 158].