February 15 Wednesday – At the Hotel Krantz in Vienna, Austria, Sam replied to Charles Dudley Warner, whose letter is not extant.
Oh, I hope it isn’t a case of “never.” As nearly as we can guess, we shall get back home next fall. I recognise that the friends are passing, & that if we would see the remnant we must not delay too long. It has become a funeral procession, & if I want to get a good place in it I must apply soon.
Sam reported curiosity for who would replace Charlemagne Tower as US Ambassador to Austria. He noted that the replacement, whomever he was, had not taken Tower’s $10,000 a year rental home, concluding, “It will be a pity to continue—or rather, resume—the shabby American tradition here.” He closed with a report on Livy:
Livy is fairly well, in spite of a persecuting procession of toothaches, rheumatisms & such things—they have given her but little peace. But she has conducted the business-end of the family with all her old competency notwithstanding. It has been spring all winter, with some rain but no snow, & that kind of a winter is not good for us & not wholesome [MTP].
Note: Camfield evaluates Warner as “one of the five most important of Twain’s mentors in writing.” He also notes the closeness of the families in the first five years of the Clemenses’ residence in Hartford and that Livy and Susan Warner “maintained the closeness of their friendship to the end.” He then cites a rumor that Sam and Warner’s “estrangement began when Clemens learned that Warner kept a mistress (in whose house he died of a heart attack in 1900)” [641].
Sam’s notebook:
“Feb. 15. Letter from Mr. Rogers to-day saying he has received it from Bliss ($5,589.16) & placed it to my credit”[NB 40 TS 53]. Note: this amount included the disputed $1,000 Bliss owed from the unauthorized McClure’s Magazine excerpts of FE.
Right after the above entry (possibly from Feb. 15 to the end of the month):
Feb., ’99—written in the autograph album of Madam Diamondy:
One of the Carbon Commonalty to the Head of the Family:
O pride & glory of our Race
Far flashing from the royal crown,
Forgotten is our smutty skin,
And dusty face & humble mien,
And poverty, & lowly kin,
In this dear thought’s uplifting grace:
Carbon & Thou are one! [NB 40 TS 53-4].