September 26 Thursday – At 5 a.m. in Albury, Australia, the Clemens party switched trains to a different track gauge train for the remainder of the trip to Melbourne. On a “bitterly cold night,” Livy had an attack of rheumatism. Another stop was made near Seymour for breakfast, where “Aubrey,” a Melbourne journalist, (probably Herbert Low) joined the party, bringing a copy of Punch, and conversing with Livy and Clara; He also interviewed Sam on the train.

The Clemens party arrived at the Spencer Street Station in Melbourne at about 2 p.m., and was met by 200 people, including members of the Institute of Journalists, which included vice president S.V. Winter, owner of the Melbourne Herald; John Lamont Dow, editor of the Leader, agricultural weekly owned Melbourne’s Age; the American consul Daniel W. Maratta; and Robinson Hoare. Melbourne was the largest city in Australia in 1895, with nearly a half-million residents. It was also a city with sprawl. It featured “high-rise” buildings as tall as twelve stories, with high-speed elevators. It had four daily newspapers and over twenty weeklies or monthlies [Shillingsburg, At Home 61].

They took rooms at the Menzies Hotel on Latrobe Street, where Sam was interviewed in bed by a Melbourne Age reporter (see interview in Scharnhorst p.232). Sam’s carbuncle had flared up due to fitful sleep on the train. Sam smoked and rested up for his Sept. 27 lecture; he read For the Term of His Natural Life [ibid].

Interviews published on Sept. 26: Melbourne Evening News: “Mark Twain. In the Sydney Express. Met by ‘Aubrey’ of the ‘News,’”; Melbourne Herald Standard: “Tramp in Melbourne…The Laughing Jackass. Wouldn’t Laugh at him!” [Shillingsburg, “Down Under” 10]