June 8 Monday – Clara Clemens’ 22nd birthday. Sam wrote her a short note at nearly midnight, that he’d almost forgotten the date, and if it weren’t so late he’d send a “telegraphic word of condolence.” Sam sent the note to the Grand Hotel in Port Elizabeth, where the ladies would arrive the following day, June 9 [MTP].
June 9 Tuesday – Livy and Clara arrived at Port Elizabeth on the Athenian and took rooms in the Grand Hotel. In King Williams Town, Sam gave his “At Home” (No. 2) talk at Town Hall. Reviews published: June 10: Kaffrarian Watchman; June 13: Cape Mercury thought Sam was better as a writer [Philippon 20-1].
Parsons writes,
June 10 Wednesday – Sam and Carlyle G. Smythe left King Williams Town at 8:20 a.m., traveling the 42 miles to East London, S. Africa, arriving at 11:10 a.m. They took rooms at the Beach Hotel on the Esplanade, with a view of Marine Park [Philippon 21]. A lonely Sam wrote to Livy:
June 11 Thursday – In East London, S. Africa, Sam gave his “At Home” talk to a “meager house” at Mutual Hall. Tickets ranged from 5 shillings to 2. The small house was due to heavy rain. A man attended who had the copy of IA that Sam gave to John Henry Riley in 1870. A review was published on June 12 by the East London Standard [Philippon 21].
Livy sent a telegram to H.H. Rogers:
June 12 Friday – When Livy and Clara left Durban, Clara exulted because a group of people saw them off. Now in East London, Sam wrote to Livy in Port Elizabeth and included a mention for Clara.
Livy darling I have just been writing a letter to Jean.
June 13 Saturday – At 7 a.m. in East London, S. Africa, Sam noted it was “Quite winterish” after having experienced twelve months of summer. In the evening Sam gave his No. 3 “At Home” talk at Mutual Hall [Philippon 21]. Note: Parsons writes of Kings William Town and East London, “Mark seems not to have had time for clubs or reporters. Through bad weather and good, however, he kept a heavy platform schedule” [“Clubman in S.A.” 250].
June 14 Sunday – In East London, Sam the observer noted the native males, as he had done the females with liquid voices back in Bloemfontein. Parsons writes,
June 15 Monday – In East London in the afternoon, the tug was able to take Sam and Carlyle G. Smythe across the shifting sandbar and along side of the 4,392 ton Norham Castle. The high sea delayed the sailing for another day, however [Philippon 21; Parsons, “Traveler in S.A.” 27].
June 16 Tuesday – At 6 p.m. in East London, the “large & very fine ship,” the Norham Castle, was able to sail in “a considerable sea” with the breakwater spouting up “in a vast white volume with laced edges, apparently 100 feet high.” It was a day behind schedule and would reach Port Elizabeth, 135 miles south, the following morning (June 17) [Parsons, “Traveler in S.A.” 27; Philippon 21].
June 17 Wednesday – Sam arrived in Port Elizabeth, Cape Colony in the morning, and went to the Grand Hotel where he was reunited with Livy and Clara. In the afternoon he gave an interview to the Eastern Province Herald, which was published on June 19. The Clemens party would remain in Port Elizabeth until June 25. Parsons writes of their time at the Grand Hotel:
June 18 Thursday – In Port Elizabeth Sam wrote to Andrew Chatto that he’d seen the English edition of JA advertised in the Cape Town newspapers, and that though they’d found “very small editions” of his book in stock in India and Australasia, what they found were “easily sold out.”
We sail from Cape Town for England in the Norman (?) July 15; so I shall look in on you about Aug 1st or 2d — unless we switch off at Portsmouth & hunt up lodgings in the Isle of Wight. Sincerely [MTP].
June 19 Friday – Flags flew at half-mast in Port Elizabeth for the 400 lost on the Drummond Castle. Sam’s letter of this date to H.H. Rogers did not mention the tragedy, but covered the book and drama rights to JA, the business between Bliss and Harper and the “good news” from Frank Mayo (Sam had not yet learned of his death, news of which Rogers sent June 18).
June 20 Saturday – In Port Elizabeth, with no performance to give until Monday, the Clemenses likely engaged in sightseeing. Parsons writes,
June 21 Sunday – The Clemens party was in Port Elizabeth, S. Africa, staying at the Grand Hotel.
Livy wrote to Susan Crane that family plans were a “little more certain” — they expected to sail for England on July 15, reaching there about Aug. 1, and would like Susy and Jean to sail about Aug. 5, hoping not to wait later than Aug. 12 [MTP].
June 22 Monday – In Port Elizabeth Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers, who had not cabled the actual date of his marriage (June 3), though Sam knew of his plans to marry Emilie Hart.
June 23 Tuesday – In Port Elizabeth, S. Africa Sam wrote to his nephew, Samuel Moffett. He referred to a prior cable (not extant) by William Randolph Hearst, publisher of the San Francisco Examiner since 1887. Moffett was an editor on the paper, and no doubt Hearst wanted Sam to write about the political machinations in S. Africa concerning Jameson’s raid and the aftermath. Sam’s letter to his nephew is obviously a response to another letter not extant.
June 24 Wednesday – In the evening in Port Elizabeth, Sam gave his “At Home” (No. 3) performance to a full house at Town Hall. Newspaper reviews were decidedly negative on his three talks in the town.
June 25 Thursday – The Clemens party and agent Smythe left Port Elizabeth on the train at 11:50 a.m. and traveled the 106 miles to Grahamstown, arriving at 7 p.m. Their average speed was but fifteen miles an hour. On the way Sam noted a lot of ostriches in the fields. On their arrival they were “most pleasantly welcomed by the Irish parish priest,” unnamed [Philippon 22; Parsons, “Traveler in S.A.” 29].
Parsons writes,
June 26 Friday – In Grahamstown, S. Africa, Sam and Carlyle Smythe were admitted to the Grahamstown Club, and entered in the visitor’s book along with their two proposers (sponsors):
1896, June 26 S Clemens (Mark Twain) U.S.A. [proposed and seconded by:] W.A.H. Holland B.L.W. Kitching [Parsons, “Clubman in S.A.” 251]. Note: Holland was the Town Clerk and Treasurer of the Club; Kitching was Rev. [Parsons, “Traveler in S.A.” 30-1].
June 27 Saturday – In Grahamstown, S. Africa, with a poor night of sleep due to hotel staff, Sam changed his accommodations to the Grahamstown Club. In the evening at the Albany Drill Hall, Sam gave his “At Home” (No. 2) talk. Grocott’s Penny Mail reviewed the performance on June 29 and reported that one man traveled 400 miles to hear Mark Twain [Philippon 22].
June 28 Sunday – In Hartford the Clemenses old neighbor and Nook Farm saint, Harriet Beecher Stowe, died at age 85. Her funeral was held on July 2, at 73 Forest Street (see entry).
At 11: 40 a.m. in Grahamstown, the Clemens group were bound for Kimberley. Parsons writes,
June 29 Monday – The Clemens party spent the day in Cradock. Parsons writes that the town was the “home off and on of ‘the best-known woman in Africa’,” Olive Schreiner. The lady’s book, Story of an African Farm was more successful in the U.S. and greatly influenced Sam’s idea of the Boer. Parsons claims, “In some measure Mark Twain saw South Africa through her eyes as he had seen India through Rudyard Kipling’s” [“Traveler in S.A.” 32]. Note: Sam wrote the name of this book in his notebook on Nov.
June 30 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook:
June 30, Tuesday. Left Cradock 7 p.m. [June 29] Cold night. 10 hours without a urinal. Damnation! [Parsons, “Travelers in S.A.” 32].
July 1 Wednesday – In Kimberley, Sam accompanied A.M. Robeson, assistant engineer to the general manager of DeBeers, Gardner Williams, and viewed the diamond mines and the “Big Hole.” A day’s yield was on display — Sam’s notebook lists it as worth $50,000. In FE, ch. 69 he gives it as $70,000.
July 2 Thursday – In Kimberley the Clemenses “went over the Kimberley mines” with Mr. and Mrs. Robeson, viewing the No. 2 washout, the concentrators, and the pulsator, a diamond-separating machine. Sam also visited the Kimberley Club [Philippon 23; Parsons, “Traveler in S.A.” 34].