October 2 Wednesday – Sam gave a Melbourne performance of “Mark Twain At Home” lecture at the Bijou Theatre on Bourke Street. Sam opened the lecture by praising Australian writer Marcus Clarke. Sam’s notebook: “It was a sweater! And all because of an idiotic advertisement mixing the two lectures.” This was the No. 2 program with some added pieces. Note: Marcus Andrew Hislop Clarke (1846-1881), author of For the Term of His Natural Life (1893). Gribben writes:

Clara Clemens recalled attending a play based on Clarke’s novel in Melbourne; she and her parents found it “gruesome” but “did not…regret” having seen it (MFMT p.145). Clemens’ own notes reveal that they saw the performance in Sydney: “Even when the chain-gang were humorous they were still a most pathetic sight…That old convict life…[was] invented in hell & carried out by Xtian devils” (NB 36 [December 1895] TS 5). [145].

Reviews published on Oct. 3: Age; Melbourne Evening News [Shillingsburg, “Down Under” 12].