October 1 Thursday – In Nimes, France at the Hotel Manivet, Sam wrote to Joe Twichell. Paine muses:

“It had been a long time since Clemens had written to his old friend Twichell, but the Rhone trip must have reminded him of those days thirteen years earlier, when, comparatively young men, he and Twichell were tramping through the Black Forest and scaling Gemmi Pass. He sent Twichell a reminder of that happy time” [MTLP 2: 558; Sept 29 to Clara Clemens].  

Dear Joe:

I have been ten days floating down the Rhone on a raft, from Lake Bourget, & a most curious & darling kind of a trip it has been. You ought to have been along — I could have made room for you easily — & you would have found that a pedestrian tour in Europe doesn’t begin with a raft-voyage for hilarity & mild adventure, & intimate contact with the unvisited native of the back settlements, & extinction from the world & newspapers, & a conscience in a state of coma, & lazy comfort, & solid happiness. In fact there’s nothing that’s so lovely.

But it’s all over. I gave the raft away yesterday at Arles, & am loafing along back by short stages on the rail to Ouchy-Lausanne where the tribe are staying [Paine stops here: MTLP 2: 558] at the Beau Rivage & are well & prosperous.

However, that isn’t what I started out to say. But this is: I stumbled on the whole lovely Dawson family one evening two or three weeks ago at Interlaken, & they were brim full of questions about you & Julia. I told them everything I knew, & made up the balance. Now wasn’t it nice to run across them in that pleasant, unexpected way — & right in Switzerland, too — just the same as before.

Love to you all — / Mark. [MTP]

Sam also wrote a brief note to Livy:

Good morning dearheart! I am up and dressed only just in time to catch my Pont du Gard train — & while Joseph orders a cab I snatch the opportunity to say Good-morning, & au revoir! — Unto Whom I love! Sam.