Life in Exile: Day By Day

August 13 Monday – H. de Lima Woods wrote from Kilburn NW, London to Sam about the Dollis Hill house. Some drainage work needed to be done and as a result some of the flooring had to be taken up. The work would be “executed as quickly as possible” [MTP].

August 14 Friday – In the morning word reached the Clemenses in Guildford that Susy Clemens was quite ill. Sam cablegrammed Charles Langdon throughout the day for clarification but none came.

August 14 Saturday – The Illustrated American ran “Dear Old Mark Twain” with several photos and an in-depth report with “Stories of Mark Twain’s Boyhood” [eBay items 350243764833 Aug. 31, 2009; and 120453602604, Aug. 3, 2009]. Thanks to JoDee Benussi.

August 14 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook: “Promenade deck each of 2 rooms £85. / Two outside rooms on main deck (no ports) £52 each. / Or, one inside room on that deck, £48. / Maid £15 in place with servants” [NB 43 TS 23]. Note: See Aug. 17 entry.

At Dollis Hill House in London, Sam wrote a brief note to Brander Matthews.

August 15 Saturday – Upon arriving at Southampton, the Clemenses found another cable waiting from the family gathered in New York. Susy’s recovery (from an unspecified disease) would be “long but certain.” This convinced Sam to stay in England. Livy and Clara boarded the S.S. Paris bound for New York. On the same day, Dr. Porter in Hartford diagnosed Susy with spinal meningitis, an often lethal malady before the days of antibiotics.

August 15 Sunday – The Lucerne newspaper Vaterland reported his presence in the country but did not give away the village of Weggis:

The well-known American author Mark Twain lives presently in Switzerland finishing a new book which will be titled, “The Surviving Innocents” for American readers and “More Tramps Abroad,” for the English [Locher 16].

August 15 Tuesday – About this day Sam wrote the introduction for T. Douglas Murray’s use of the Official Records of the Joan of Arc Trial, which would not appear until 1902 as Jeanne d’Arc: Maid of Orleans, Deliverer of France [Aug. 25 to Murray].

August 15 Wednesday – If Sam’s intentions were met, he and Livy hosted Brander Matthews and family, sharing tea and cake and dinner [Aug. 14 to Matthews]. Note: NB entry seems to confirm.

Sam’s notebook: “Candlestick / Bicycle / Gift-books. / Telegram / Dinner & tea Wednes / Inform American Line / Resign from Plasmon” [NB 43 TS 23-24].

August 16 Sunday – Neider writes of Susy’s torment:

Next morning, a Sunday, she walked about a bit in pain and delirium, then felt very weak and returned to bed, but before doing so, rummaging in a closet, she came across a gown she had once seen her mother wear. She thought the gown was her dead mother, and, kissing it, began to cry [Papa 43].

August 16 Monday – In Weggis, Sam recorded a local tragedy in his notebook:

August 16 Tuesday – In Kaltenleutgeben Sam replied to the Aug. 2 letter of William Dean Howells.

August 16 Thursday – Sam made a call on the widow of Charles Russell, Baron of Killowen and Chief Justice of England, who had died Aug. 9 [Aug. 17 to MacAlister].

Sam’s notebook: “Plasmon, Duke [Street] / Lord Aberdeen / 58 Grosvenor st. (Has gone to Haddo House)” [NB 43 TS 24].

August 17 Monday – At noon in Guildford, Sam finished his Aug. 16 letter to Livy.

Monday noon. Chatto is evidently off on his vacation. I do not hear from him.

I enclose a letter received this morning, about the photos. It has no signature, but I suppose it is from Miss Blood — so I have answered it.

August 17 Tuesday – Sam passed Katharine I. Harrison’s letter of July 30 (which had arrived on Aug. 13; see to Rogers that date) informing him of Bliss’ payment of the $10,000 for FE on to Chatto & Windus.

August 17 Wednesday – The Clemens family was in Bad Ischl or Hallstatt, Austria.

August 17 Friday – Sam’s notebook: “MacA & W to lunch” [NB 43 TS 24].

At Dollis Hill House in London, Sam wrote to John Y. MacAlister.

I don’t know when I have been so disappointed. I got all work cleared away & was ready for friends & luxurious leisure. And the weather—well, it was imported for the occasion.

August 18 Tuesday – At 7:07 p.m. in Hartford, Olivia Susan (Susy) Clemens, age 24, died of spinal meningitis in the Farmington Ave. house [MTA 37; Sept. 6 to Hutton]. Katy Leary, longtime servant and helper to the family, was with her, as was Charles Langdon and Sue Crane. Joe Twichell had come from the Adirondacks to comfort Susy, but it’s not clear if he was with her at the end (see Sept.

August 18 Wednesday – The anniversary of Susy Clemens’ death. From Sam’s Aug. 22 letter to Wayne MacVeagh:

August 18 Thursday – The Clemens family was in Bad Ischl or Hallstatt, Austria on this the second anniversary of Susy’s death.

Sam wrote an eleven-page elegy to Susy Clemens, “Broken Idols”

August 18 Friday – Sam’s notebook: “August 18, 1899. Three years ago, to-day, Susy Clemens, aged 24 years & 5 months. / Escaped out of this life” [NB 42 TS 57].

August 18 Saturday – Sam’s notebook: “Susy died 4 years ago. / All remained at home at Dollis Hill & saw no company” [NB 43 TS 24].

At 7:30 a.m. at Dollis Hill House in London, Sam replied to Joe Twichell (incoming not extant).

No, it was not gastritis alone that the Chief Justice died of—that was a journalistic error: he had a cancer.

I get this from a physician.

August – The first of two installments of the 23,400 word Tom Sawyer, Detective first appeared in the Aug. issue of Harper’s Magazine. 21 illustrations were included by A.B. Frost. It would be included by Harper’s in book form, together with the 34,000 word Tom Sawyer Abroad in November, 1896. The latter had first appeared in book form in 1894 by Webster & Co., after being serialized in St. Nicholas.

August – In Weggis, Switzerland Sam wrote to Chatto & Windus [MTP].

August – From this month through October, Sam wrote “The Great Dark,” unfinished and unpublished during his lifetime. It first ran in Letters from the Earth, 1962, Bernard DeVoto, ed. [Budd Collected 2: 1004].

Sam inscribed a copy of Robert Louis Stevenson’s A Lowden Sabbath Morn (1898) “To Livy / on her next birthday. / SL Clemens / Kaltenleutgeben, August, ‘98” [Gribben 663]. Note: Sam had requested the “new Stevenson book” from Chatto on July 26.

August 19 Wednesday – In Guildford, England, Sam wrote two notes to Andrew Chatto, the first before receiving news of Susy’s death, the second afterward. First,