Return to the States, August 1893:
August 26 Saturday – Sam and daughter Clara left Franzensbad and traveled by train to Leipzig, taking rooms at the Palmbaum Hotel [Aug. 28 to Livy]. Note: date is calculated.
August 28 Monday – In Leipzig, Germany shortly before breakfast and catching a train for Bremen, Sam wrote to Livy, still in Franzensbad with Susy.
Bremen to New York: Spree
August 29 Tuesday – Sam and daughter Clara sailed from Bremen for New York in the Spree, Captain Meissel [NB 33 TS 30].
August 30 Wednesday – The Spree stopped in Southampton, on the south coast of England for more passengers [Sept. 2 Times article]. Sam’s notebook:
At Southampton 2.30 p.m. Aug 29 [Aug. 30] about 25 hours out from Bremen. / Consul Kelly, General Agent of the N.D.L. / The widow lady & her sons got off here. Ask for her at Hillman’s Hotel, Bremen, they will find her for us. / Clothes to come by next ship — probably Wm. II [NB 33 TS 30].
August 31 Thursday – Sam and daughter Clara were at sea on the Spree.
September 1 Friday – Sam and daughter Clara were at sea on the Spree.
September 2 Saturday – In prior trips alone to New York, Sam made efforts to stay anonymous, mostly without success. He was a celebrity and his returns to the States were usually reported in the newspapers. The New York Times, p.5, “New-York and Round About” carried this notice:
— A cablegram received by the North German Lloyd Steamship Company states that among the cabin passengers on the Spree, sailing from Bremen Aug. 29 and Southampton Aug. 30, are Mr. S.L. Clemens. (Mark Twain.)
September 3 Sunday – Sam and daughter Clara were at sea on the Spree. From the Boston Daily Globe, p.27:
September 4 Monday – Sam and daughter Clara were at sea on the Spree.
Wolkow & Cornelson, a Hamburg, Germany commercial firm sent a post card to Livy that they’d received a package of tooth powder from New York for her — would she accept it? [MTP].
September 5 Tuesday – Sam and daughter Clara were at sea on the Spree.
September 6 Wednesday – Sam and daughter Clara were at sea on the Spree. Sam wrote on Sept. 13 to daughter Jean, about Clara’s last night on board:
She had good times on the ship & wasn’t sick, & learned to play a very creditable game of horse-billiards [deck shuffleboard]. She danced till 11 the last night, but took a long afternoon sleep the next afternoon at the Murray Hill to make up for it [MTP].
September 7 Thursday – The Brooklyn Eagle, Sept. 8, 1893, p.4, “Personal Mention” noted Sam and Clara’s arrival:
Mark Twain and his daughter, Miss Clara L. Clemens, arrived yesterday from Bremen on the Spree.
September 9 Saturday – Sam sent daughter Clara and cousin Jervis Langdon to Elmira. He had written Livy he’d take board and lodging at the Lotos Club, “for economy’s sake,” but first actually moved into “temporary bachelor quarters with his physician and friend Dr. Clarence C. Rice, on East 19th Street.” (Rice’s family was away; by the end of the month Sam took “a cheap room” at The Players Club) [Sept. 7 to Livy; LLMT 268].
September 10 Sunday – At Clarence C. Rice’s home, Sam woke up feeling “perfectly well this morning,” after having gone to bed early the night before and drinking a “whole bottle of whisky.” Sam wrote on Rice’s New York Medical School letterhead to daughter Clara in Elmira.
September 12 Tuesday – In New York Sam wrote Livy on Sept. 13 about seeing Frank Fuller:
September 13 Wednesday – Sam wrote two letters to Livy, in care of Drexel Harjes & Co. Bankers, Paris., one at 10 a.m. in Hartford, and another upon returning to New York. He described his contact with Frank Fuller, taking in a play with Dr. Clarence C. Rice, his Hartford visit, and prospects:
September 14 Thursday – In New York, a bad cold and cough again plagued Sam, who “fell asleep as soon as” he “touched the bed” [Sept. 15 to Clara]. Sam discussed publishing an interview with William Webster Ellsworth, secretary of Century Co., and would write him the next day [Sept. 15 to Ellsworth].
In his Sept. 17 letter to Livy, he related how hectic the search for funds had been this day:
September 15 Friday – Sam was up at 7 a.m. and back at the frantic search for a loan with which to save from defaulting on debts due Monday, Sept. 18. From Sam’s Sept. 17 letter to Livy:
September 16 Saturday – Sam traveled to Madison, New Jersey and Frank Fuller’s farm, “Chemmiwink,” arriving at 1 p.m. Exhausted from this ordeal to find financial support for Webster & Co., worn down with another cold and bad cough, but knowing that Rogers would provide Fred Hall with the needed $8,000, Sam “went immediately to bed thoroughly tuckered out & drowsy” [Sept 17 to Clara].
September 17 Sunday – At Frank Fuller’s farm In Madison, N.J. Sam wrote to daughter Clara. He wrote that he’d “woke up at 7 this morning entirely rested, refreshed & brisk.”
September 18 Monday – Russell Hinman sent a copy of his book, Eclectic Physical Geography (1888) to Sam for daughter Jean Clemens, with this note:
My dear Sir: —
September 19 Tuesday – At Dr. Rice’s in New York, Sam wrote to Livy at 10:30 a.m. after a “full night’s sleep.” He awoke at 8 a.m. and just finished shaving when he wrote, soon to be on his way “to meet a business engagement.”
Yesterday was the crucial day — for the present. We skinned through. We’ve got another reef to cross 5 days hence, & another one 4 days after that. I think we’ll get over — & without the help of any old friend or relative.
September 20 Wednesday – At 9:30 a.m., Sam called for Charles and Ida Langdon at the Waldorf Hotel, but after a long search they were not found. Charles was in New York with some sort of ailment where he could not eat, and under the care of Dr. Fuller. After receiving a note later in the day from Ida, Sam returned to the hotel at 5:30 p.m. in his “morning clothes.”
September 21 Thursday – In New York Sam wrote a short note on Webster & Co. letterhead to daughter Clara in Elmira. The letter is a response to Clara’s (not extant) need for a saddle.
Clara dear, why don’t you write Patrick [McAleer]…& tell him to send you your saddle? If he has taken proper care of it, it is in good condition yet.
September 23 Saturday – In New York on Webster & Co. letterhead, Sam wrote to daughter Clara.
September 26 Tuesday – In New York on Webster & Co. letterhead, Sam wrote to daughter Clara.
Benny dear, this is Hulda’s wedding-day. I’ll send a congratulatory cablegram.
Dearheart, I don’t expect to be able to sail before the middle or end of November. I’m in a business fog which every now & then promises to clear, but shuts down next day as thick as ever. So I have come to the conclusion that my release from New York is ‘way off, yet.