October 20 Thursday – At the Hotel Krantz in Vienna, Austria, Sam wrote a letter of introduction for Herr Van Dyke to Laurence Hutton: “any kindness you & Mrs. Hutton may show him is a kindness shown to me.” Sam requested that Hutton introduce Van Dyke to the Players Club and also the Century magazine staff
[MTP]. Note: could this have been Henry Van Dyke, later professor of literature at Princeton?
October 19 Wednesday – At the Hotel Krantz in Vienna, Austria, Sam wrote to Edmund Kloieda.
“I am sorry that I am not able to comply, but I shall lecture only once during the next twelvemonth, & for that lecture I have already engaged myself. When I was younger I had no distaste for lecturing, but now that I am old it is to me an almost unendurable distress & discomfort.”
October 18 Tuesday – At the Hotel Krantz in Vienna, Austria, Sam wrote to Frank Bliss.
The 3 books have come. Many Thanks.
October 17 Monday – At the Hotel Krantz, Austria, Sam wrote to Bettina Wirth. He explained the English expression, “So-long,” and the double-standard of its application.
October 15 Saturday – The New York Times, Oct. 30, p. 7, “Coffee Houses In Vienna…Mark Twain’s Warm Eulogy,” with dateline Oct. 15:
October 13 Thursday – Joe Twichell wrote to Sam, enclosing a note of thanks from Brander Matthews, to whom Joe had sent compliments from Sam. “Here is also a leaf from a recent issue of “ the Spectator” he thought interesting. “What wouldn’t I give for a few afternoons of our pedestrian company out on the country roads and into the autumnal woods just now beginning to turn.” He added that Sam’s article in the last Forum on play-acting was perfect.
October 12 Wednesday – In Kaltenleutgeben, Austria, Sam wrote to Chatto & Windus, to give them his new address at the Hotel Krantz, NeuerMarket, Vienna. “We go there tomorrow” [MTP]. Note: The family did not check into the Krantz until Oct. 14 [NB 40 TS 47].
October 11 Tuesday – In Kaltenleutgeben, Austria, Sam wrote to the Paul E. Wirt Fountain Pen Co., Bloomsburg, Penn. with what appears to have been a prepared testimonial:
With a single Wirt Pen I have earned the family’s living for many years. With two, I could have grown rich. / Mark Twain [MTP].
Note: See insert: 1904 advertisement claimed that Sam used the Wirt pen for 25 years, or since 1879.
October 10 Monday – In Kaltenleutgeben, Austria, Sam wrote to Edward W. Bok, editor, Ladies’ Home Journal.
A good deal of the Autobiography is written, but I never work on it except when a reminiscence of some kind crops up in a strong way & in a manner forces me; so it is years too early yet to think of publishing— except now & then at long intervals a single chapter, maybe. I intend to do that. Someday. But it would not answer for your magazine.
October 7 Friday – In Kaltenleutgeben, Austria, Sam wrote to James B. Pond, asking when he saw the editor of Forum to ask about Sam’s article “About Play-Acting.” Sam had not heard back from Forum (the piece ran in the Oct. issue). He expressed hope that they would return home “just a year from now— everything promises well for that.” He also noted the passing of another old, wandering lecturer: