October 31 Saturday – The Brooklyn Eagle, Nov.1, 1891 (datelined Oct. 31) p.7, “Social Reform in Berlin,” reported on one of Sam’s engagements:

At a grand official dinner this evening by William Walter Phelps, the United States minister to Germany, the features of the menu were different preparations of American corn and bread made of a mixture of corn and rye flour in different proportions. Among those present were Baron and Baroness Von Marchall, Baron von Berlepsch, Herr Miquel, imperial minister of finance; Baron von Rottenburg, Baron and Baroness von Maltzahn, Mr. and Mrs. Poultney Bigelow, Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain), and Mrs. Clemens, Baron and Baroness von Zedwitz, Sir Edward Malet, the British ambassador and the Misses Duke and Halstead.

Many such dinners and occasions were in store for Sam and Livy during their Berlin stay. Mark Twain was widely acclaimed. Rodney writes:

“Mark Twain’s local celebrity combined with the good auspices of William Phelps…to give the Clemenses entrée to a brilliant social season in Berlin that winter. They mixed with ambassadors, authors, aristocrats, American compatriots, and eminent scientists. The notable anthropologist Rudolf Virchow and physicist Herman Von Helmholtz were two figures whom Mark Twain greatly admired” [140-1].

Paine writes:

“Socially, that winter in Berlin was eventful enough. William Walter Phelps, of New Jersey (Clemens had known him in America), was United States minister at the German capital, while at the Emperor’s court there was a cousin, Frau , née Clemens, one of the St. Louis family. She had married a young German officer who had risen to the rank of a full general. Mark Twain and his family were welcome guests at all the diplomatic events  —  often brilliant levees, gatherings of distinguished men and women from every circle of achievement. Labouchère of Truth was there, De Blowitz of the Times, and authors, ambassadors, and scientists of rank. Clemens became immediately a distinguished figure at these assemblies. His popularity in Germany was openly manifested. At any gathering he was surrounded by a brilliant company, eager to do him honor. He was recognized whenever he appeared on the street, and saluted, though in his notes he says he was sometimes mistaken for the historian Mommsen, whom he resembled in hair and features. His books were displayed for sale everywhere, and a special cheap edition of them was issued at a few cents per copy” [MTB 933].