August 20 Thursday – In Marienbad:
I went up to the Aussichtthurm the other day. This is a tower which stands on the summit of a steep hemlock mountain here; a tower which there isn’t the least use for, because the view is as good at the base of it as it is at the top of it. But Germanic people are just mad for views — they never get enough of a view — if, they owned Mount Blanc, they would build a tower on top of it.
August 19 Wednesday – In Marienbad:
August 18 Tuesday – In Marienbad:
August 17 Monday – In Marienbad after a few days Sam took part in the baths.
The crowds that drift along the promenade at music time twice a day are fashionably dressed after the Parisian pattern, and they look a good deal alike, but they speak a lot of languages which you have not encountered before, and no ignorant person can spell their names, and they can’t pronounce them themselves.
August 16 Sunday – In Marienbad, Germany Sam wrote to Clarence C. Buel of the Century Co., explaining his cable of the previous day.
August 15 Saturday – In Marienbad, Germany Sam wrote to Andrew Chatto, responding to questions Chatto formed from a newspaper article.
Yes, the newspaper items stated the idea of the novel correctly. Title, “The American Claimant.” Chief character, Colonel Mulberry Sellers….Yes indeed, we shan’t go home without a run over to England first. That will be a year hence [MTP].
August 12 Wednesday – The last day of the Bayreuth, Germany Wagner festival. Sam was in Marienbad, Germany a few days later, writing from there on Aug. 15. For a humorous account of the trip from Aix-les-Bains to Bayreuth, read Sam’s third letter to McClure’s Syndicate, “Playing the Courier,” which first appeared in the Illustrated London News on Dec. 19 and 26, 1891.
August 11 Tuesday – The Clemens party left Bayreuth for Marienbad, Bohemia (Germany). Sam wrote of his last attendances at the Wagner festival operas:
TUESDAY. — I have seen my last two operas; my season is ended, and we cross over into Bohemia this afternoon. I was supposing that my musical regeneration was accomplished and perfected, because I enjoyed both of these operas, singing and all, and, moreover, one of them was “Parsifal,” but the experts have disenchanted me. They say:
August 10 Monday – A man signing himself “An Old Frontiersman” wrote from Rosebud, S.D. having just read Sam’s sketch “Luck” in Harper’s. Few writers had given him such pleasure [MTP].
August 7 Friday – Sam wrote from Bayreuth, Germany to Frederick J. Hall concerning details of McClure’s publication of The American Claimant, which would begin in January. Sam wanted confirmation that the second installment payment would be made at that time, and that the serial would finish in March, 1892.