May 12 Tuesday – In Durban, Natal Sam gave his “At Home” No. 1 lecture at the Theatre Royal. The house held about 1,000 and was full, tickets from 1s to 4s, with an approximate gross of £105. Sam spoke for 95 minutes, including the boy and the corpse, Civil War soldiering, Mexican plug, German language, and his Australian Poem [Philippon 15].
After the lecture he went to the Princess Café and gave a Savage Club supper speech. Fatout writes,
Dr. Samuel Campbell, dinner chairman, said that he prescribed Mark Twain’s books as a tonic for convalescing patients. In an undated reminiscence, Natal University Library, Durban, South Africa, Dr. Campbell summarizes Mark Twain’s speech: “He commenced his reply by describing how much he admired Durban — what wonderful men they were. He then proceeded to give some of his experiences….he told of how he had been ill in Bombay recently and called in a Doctor, a remarkable man, clever was no name for him, he got right down to the disease and cured it — but left a much worse one behind and passed him on to a Doctor in Calcutta, a wonderful Physician, who cured him of this malignant disease but left a worse one behind….Then he turned his attention particularly to my relationship to him — how soothed he was to hear that he had been so helpful to me in my profession — curing my patients by means of his writing. I was no doubt an honest man, but had it ever occurred to me that I was using his brains to acquire wealth, position, credit. It was surely evident to the simplest intelligence that I owed him something and he would be glad to receive a cheque from me before he left Durban” [MT Speaking 664].
The Natal Mercury’s “Man in the Moon,” whom Parsons takes to be A. Milligan, the Club’s secretary remembered Sam’s speech about the doctor fees:
Well, gentlemen, it is very gratifying to me to learn that I have done so much good in the world. I want to do good, and you hear that I have been doing it. I am indeed pleased to know that my books have been of so much assistance to a noble profession for the alleviation of human suffering. Yes, it is very gratifying to know that I have done half the work of my friend — I have not received half the fees (laughter).
As you know, I am fond of doctors. I am in my 61st year. Well, I have lived for 60 years without having anything at all to do with doctors, but since I entered into the 61st year I have had them all the time. They are a noble set of men, and I like them. Nothing is too much for them to do. They are most attentive and kind in their treatment. I find they always accomplish what they set themselves to do. They always cure the disease they are dealing with — and leave you with another. Yes, since I have had to do with doctors, I have had a processional time with complaints [Parsons, “Clubman in S.A.” 238]. Note: this last paragraphs is given as “the merest outline from memory” by the reporter.
In FE chapter LXV p.652 with this dateline, Sam gives a concise summary of the politics behind the Jameson Raid across the Transvaal border four months before, Jan. 1-2, 1896. See also May 23 entry.
Harper & Brothers wrote to ask Sam if they might gather some of his essays to publish as a volume in their “Contemporary Essayists” series. Sam may not have received this letter since they asked again on Oct. 12, though he did enclose an answer in his to Rogers [MTHHR 240n1].