October 1 Thursday – In Nimes, France at the Hotel Manivet, Sam wrote to Joe Twichell. Paine muses:
“It had been a long time since Clemens had written to his old friend Twichell, but the Rhone trip must have reminded him of those days thirteen years earlier, when, comparatively young men, he and Twichell were tramping through the Black Forest and scaling Gemmi Pass. He sent Twichell a reminder of that happy time” [MTLP 2: 558; Sept 29 to Clara Clemens].
Dear Joe:
October – Sometime during the month, probably after the Clemenses were settled in Berlin, Sam inscribed a photograph of himself to Charles Warren Stoddard: C.W.S. / from his oldest and wisest friend / Mark Twain / Oct 1891 [MTP].
Sam’s notebook entry during this month shows he at least knew of Emily Dickinson. He quoted Thomas W. Higginson’s description of her father’s house in Amherst, Mass:
September 30 Wednesday – At Arles, France Sam wrote a short note to Livy.
To Mrs. Clemens, in Ouchy, Switzerland:
ARLES, Sept. 30, noon.
Livy darling, I haint got no time to write to-day, because I am sight-seeing industriously & imagining my chapter.
Bade good-bye to the river trip & gave away the boat yesterday evening. We had ten great days in her.
We reached here after dark. We were due about 4.30, counting by distance, but we couldn’t calculate on such a lifeless current as we found.
September 29 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook shows he arrived in Arles on this day [NB 31 TS 7]. On his last day on the Rhone river, Sam wrote at 11: 20 a.m. to his daughter Clara Clemens, answering her letter. He may have also written his other daughters, though such letters are not extant.
DEAR OLD BEN —
The Castle of Châteauneuf-du-Pape is a château located in the town of the same name in southeastern France. Its presence has dominated the landscape around the village and its renowned vineyards for more than 800 years.
September 28 Monday – In Bourg St. Andéol, the rest of Sam’s letter to Livy concerning this day:
I got up at 7 this morning [Sept 28] to see the poor devils cook their poor breakfast & pack up their sordid fineries.
This is a 9 k-m. current & the wind is with us; we shall make Avignon before 4 o’clock. I saw watermelons & pomegranates for sale at St. Andéol.
With a power of love, Sweetheart, SAML.
The Château de Saint-Montan is a castle in the commune of the same name, in the Ardèche department. Built in the eleventh century for military purposes, it reaches over time a residential purpose. Very touched by the wars of religion, it remains abandoned until the late 1960s, where for forty years, nearly 10 000 volunteers will succeed to revive the castle and its town. The oldest parts of the castle date from the tenth century, the fortress was then extended in its lower part until the fourteenth century.
September 27 Sunday – On the Rhone River below Bourg St. Andéol, Sam wrote on Sept. 28 of this day’s trip and of Bourg St.Andeol:
The Château de Crussol is a mostly-ruined 12th century limestone castle in the commune of Saint-Péray that dominates the valley of Rhône, just opposite Valence in the Ardèche département, Rhône-Alpes région of France.
September 26 Saturday – The activities of the day are best described in the letter Sam wrote to Livy at nightfall, at the Hotel Bertrand in La Voult, France: