December 21 Saturday – In Sydney in the evening Sam repeated his “At Home” lecture from the previous night, except he used his remarks on the war scare as an introduction, and also included the Australian poem. Shillingsburg, in quoting local newspapers, writes: On Saturday night, “the hall was packed, and the great humorist met with a splendid reception,” and at times “the whole audience was convulsed.”
December 20 Friday – Sam and Smythe left Scone, Australia by train at 11:25 a.m. While on the train Sam kept notes of town names, possibly for use in a poem he included in FE.
December 19 Thursday – Sam and Carlyle G. Smythe left Sydney on a train at 11:25 a.m. for Scone, a country town some 125 miles northwest and the farthest north the tour reached in the Australian leg, arriving at 7:15 p.m. Sam noted the war scare between England and America [NB 36 TS 1, 6]. Livy and Clara remained in Sydney, and may have gone to the National Park with Justice Sir William Windeyer.
December 18 Wednesday – In a Dec. 20 letter to Sue Crane, Livy wrote that she made two social calls on families in Sydney, only to discover that everyone was just about to leave for Europe or England. Sam likely visited the Sydney Botanical Garden, and may have gone fishing at Bondi, where he heard several stories of sharks. His notebook entry gives several anecdotes about watches, money, and even prayer books that people found in sharks.
December 17 Tuesday – The Mararoa reached Sydney Harbor at 9 a.m. Sam’s notebook records that the weather had turned cool [NB 36 TS 3]. Immediately after his arrival Sam was interviewed by Herbert Low about his impressions of New Zealand. The interview ran on Dec. 18 in the Sydney Morning Herald. Low may not have been the only journalist pestering Sam for his impressions of N.Z.
Shillingsburg quotes Sam’s notebook (no # or TS page no. given):
December 16 Monday – The Clemens party was en route to Sydney in the Mararoa in the Tasman sea.
December 15 Sunday – The Clemens party was en route to Sydney in the Mararoa in the Tasman sea. Shillingsburg writes:
December 14 Saturday – The Clemens party was en route to Sydney in the Mararoa in the Tasman sea. Personal appreciation by writer of “Echoes of the Week,” ran in the New Zealand Times Supplement [Shillingsburg, “Down Under” 30].
December 13 Friday – At 3:15 p.m. the Clemens party (including Carlyle G. Smythe) left Wellington, N.Z. on the Union Co.’s Mararoa. “Summer seas and a good ship — life has nothing better” [FE ch. XXXVI 324]. On board was the “damdest menagerie of mannerless children I have ever gone to sea with” [NB 36 TS 2] who raised Sam’s ire — in his notebook he hoped for a heavy storm. Also on board was the manager of the Greenwood Theatrical Co.
December 12 Thursday – The last full day in Wellington, and N.Z., Sam and Carlyle G. Smythe took a short train ride to the suburb of Hutt, where they enjoyed the gardens of Mrs. Ross, played billiards, and in the evening went to a concert. Livy and Clara likely went along.