Submitted by scott on

May 30 Monday – At the Villa Paulhof in Kaltenleutgeben near Vienna, Austria, Sam wrote to Siegmund Schlesinger, who evidently had asked for more time, likely on their play collaborations. Sam wrote him to “Take another month—and don’t hurry; hurrying doesn’t help a sick man to get well” [MTP].

Sam’s notebook: “May 30. ’98. Sent “The Appetite-Cure” to Cosmopolitan, registered” [NB 40 TS 21]. Note: the essay ran in the August issue of Cosmopolitan [MTB 1067].

May 30 to June 11Sam’s notebook between these dates includes a long essay on the “real God” Sam saw in nature. Some excerpts:

The Being who to me is the real God, is the one who created this majestic universe & rules it. He is the only Originator; the only originator of thoughts; thoughts suggested from within, not from without; the originator of colors & of all their possible combinations; of forces, & the laws that govern them; of forms & shapes; of all forms—man has never invented a new one. … / He is the perfect artisan, the perfect artist. Everything which He has made is fine, everything which he has made is beautiful; nothing coarse, nothing ugly, has ever come from His hand. Even his materials are all delicate….The materials of the leaf, the flower, the fruit; of the insect, the elephant, the man; of the earth the crags & the ocean….The materials of a rotting animal are delicate & beautiful—the microscope proves it [NB 40 TS 21-2].

Day By Day Acknowledgment

Mark Twain Day By Day was originally a print reference, meticulously created by David Fears, who has generously made this work available, via the Center for Mark Twain Studies, as a digital edition.   

Contact Us