January 4 Friday – The S.S. Bermudian reached Hamilton Harbor, Bermuda at 6 a.m. and docked about 9:30 a.m. The Clemens party registered at the Princess Hotel, next to the water just west of town. D. Hoffman writes:
It was the largest wood building on the islands, and its structure had been advertised as “a sure guarantee against the dampness usually found in houses.” The dining hall opened through glass doors to a long and deep veranda overlooking the harbor. Another amenity, the billiard room on the ground floor, also came close to Clemens’s heart. He had been spending an immoderate amount of time at billiards. As he grew lonelier, the games got longer. They sometimes lasted for as much as ten hours, Miss Lyon wrote [71].
The three took a long carriage ride to Harrington Sound; Miss Lyon detailed, below:
Isabel Lyon’s journal: Bermuda, Princess Hotel. Such happiness.
Distant land was sighted at 6 o’clock and when the breakfast bugle sounded we were abreast of Ireland Island & the water began to take on its wonderful colors. We docked about 9:30, I think. The King is not feeling very well because he ate too heartily of baked beans & bacon & cabbage & milk yesterday at luncheon, so he has had indigestion ever since. I had forgotten how beautiful Bermuda & its waters are. The white houses grew here a thousand years ago— somehow you do not feel the hand of man in their construction, because there isn’t anything inappropriate about them. This afternoon we drove over to Harrington Sound, a 2 hours drive, & enchanting. I sat with the King, & Mr. Twichell on the front seat asked the darkey driver hundreds of questions. There are many flowers blooming, hibiscus, lantana, roses & strange flowers of various kinds. We went into the Devil’s Cave where the King was interested in the big groupers & beautiful angel fish, & butterfly fish & parrot fish. An old Englishman described the wonders of the place to us & how the groupers change color after they’ve eaten. But most of all, I was in heaven as I sat beside the King & drove along those beautiful roads— the great cut near Govt. House, all lined with beautiful trees. The King wears grey clothes now & they are very becoming. Later Mr. Twichell & I took a walk along quiet roads which led to nowhere but a hill top & I remember now that I made the same walk 18 years ago with little Juliet Claghorn, who now is dead [MTP].
T. Fisher Unwin wrote from London to send Sam “the last edition of my general catalogue” of books. He solicited Sam’s visit when in London [MTP].
Chapters from “My Autobiography—IX” ran in the N.A.R. p.113-19.