Submitted by scott on

September 9 Friday – In a letter postmarked this day but probably written a day or more before, Susy Clemens wrote from Cassino, Italy to Louise Brownell, disclosing recent family activities:

We are back from another visit to Frankfurt and this has been a quiet peaceful day. Clara has just been playing thro’ her repertoire and I have lain on the bed alternately reading and looking out the window from which we have a most lovely view. In Frankfurt we went to see Seigfried. I particularly like the inscription on the front of the opera house — “Dem Wahren Gaten Schoenen.” The cholera still rages. It is truly horrible! How many people have suffered. We stay here till it has abated or spread. We can’t venture to go to Italy till it is decidedly on the wane. If it approaches this region of the country we shall start for Switzerland [Cotton 101157-8].

Note: Susy did not usually date her letters, and in some cases they were mailed as long as two weeks after she wrote. The open period of Sept. 6 to 8 is the likely period for the family trip (probably less Livy) to Frankfurt. In his Sept. 10 to Whitmore, Sam announced the family was leaving on Sept. 11 for Frankfurt and Florence.

Day By Day Acknowledgment

Mark Twain Day By Day was originally a print reference, meticulously created by David Fears, who has generously made this work available, via the Center for Mark Twain Studies, as a digital edition.