June 11, 1891 Thursday

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June 11 Thursday – At sea, Sam’s notebook entry:

June 11. The loneliness of a ship at 4 a.m. Saw just one person for an instant flit through the gray of yesterday’s dawn. Very rough — winds singing — first wet deck. Electrics seemed to burn dim. Smoking sty stunk unenduringly. …Susy: “Their gesticulations are so out of proportion to what they are saying.”

Smooth sea again.
Jean, positively comfortable. 
Clara, compara[tively comfortable] 
Susy, superlatively un[comfortable].

June 10, 1891 Wednesday

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June 10 Wednesday – At sea, Sam’s notebook entry:

June 10. Rough sea. Il est defense d’apporter du petit et du vin blanc a la chambre*

Mrs. Franklin advised to get immediately the habits of smoking, drinking, coffee, chewing, snuffing & swearing — then leave them all off for a week & be cured. She had no habits to change when she got sick — therefore was in a helpless & perilous situation [3: 642]. * (It is forbidden to take rolls and white wine to the rooms.)

June 9, 1891 Tuesday

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June 9 Tuesday – At sea, Sam’s notebook entry:

June 9. Brilliant sun, but good deal of sea. Breakfast table rather deserted. It is a good, easy-riding sea-boat. … Blow whistle for noon — can’t hear the bell far…. Seen the whole length of the gangway, people at dinner are diminished to children

A sour deck steward who makes all calls upon him a reluctant & uncomfortable thing [3: 642].

June 8, 1891 Monday

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June 8 MondayClara Clemensseventeenth birthday.

At sea, Sam’s notebook entry:

Certainly the sunniest & most beautiful day the Atlantic ever saw. But little sea — though what there is would be seriously felt on a smaller vessel. This one has no motion.

The phosphorescent waves at night are very intense on the black surface….Open fire place & big mantelepiece in great salon — imitation, not real; but a cosy & perfect counterfeit.

June 7, 1891 Sunday

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June 7 Sunday – At sea, Sam’s notebook entry:

7th. Glassy sea — no wind — everybody on deck — overcoats not needed….Delicious breakfasts, 12.30. Lie abed till 10.30: they bring you a cup of coffee & a biscuit about 8.30 if you want it — & you do [3: 639].

Mrs. Helen Bancroft, “daughter of an old steamboat pilot” wrote from New Orleans to Sam, enclosing a MS and asking Sam to comment as to its fitness for publication [MTP].

June 6, 1891 Saturday

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June 6 Saturday – At 5 a.m. the Clemenses sailed from New York for France on the Gascoigne [June 3 to Moffett]. The family would not return for more than eight years and would never again live in Hartford. Powers writes that Webster & Co. owed Sam $74,087.35 for his cumulative investments in the company at the time the family left [MT A Life 543].

Check # Payee Amount [Notes]

June 5, 1891 Friday

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June 5 Friday – Sam, Livy, and Jean left Hartford for New York, where they met their other daughters and Sue Crane. The party stayed at the Murray Hill Hotel [June 3 to Moffett; MTNJ 3: 634n222].

June 4, 1891 Thursday

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June 4 Thursday – Two of the Clemens girls, probably Susy and Clara, went to New York in advance of the family. They likely were accompanied by Katy Leary. Sue Crane would meet the family there as well [June 3 to Moffett].

Sam inscribed a copy of P&P to Anna Körner: To: Anna Körner / from / The Author / Hartford, June 4, 1891 [MTP].

Check # Payee Amount [Notes]

June 3, 1891 Wednesday

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June 3 Wednesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to his sister, Pamela Moffett, who’d written she was going to Fredonia to comfort her daughter, Annie Webster, recently widowed. Sam told of their travel plans, a “French village” not yet decided on, and “all of next winter, no doubt,” in Berlin.

June 2, 1891 Tuesday

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June 2 Tuesday – The N.Y. World May 31, 1891 interview, “Mark Twain on Humor,” was reprinted in the semi-weekly edition, page six.

Open Court Magazine sent Sam several news clippings; no letter or explanation is in the file [MTP]. This was a Chicago weekly “devoted to the work of conciliating religion with science” [MTNJ 3: 635n224].