January 24 Sunday – Sam’s notebook from Berlin:

When I had been in bed 11 days, Frau von Versen came Jan. 24, & brought a note inviting me on the part of the Emperor to come to the palace at 11.30 a.m. & witness the consecration of some flags. I wrote my thanks & regrets. Frau von V. came again that day or the next & said the Emperor had commanded her to prepare dinner for him & me in her house — the date of the dinner to be the day that I shd be well enough [NB 31 TS 21].

The Boston Daily Globe, p.20 “MARK TWAIN’S BIRTHPLACE,” was a brief feature article mentioning Sam’s first companions in Hannibal: Benton Coontz, John RoBards, and Barney Farthing. The first two were still citizens of Hannibal, and the latter, “though having spent a large portion of his life in the West and mingled with Mark in his Virginia City career, is a resident of Paris [Mo.]” A crude drawing of Sam’s Florida, Mo. birthplace was included.