December 19 Thursday – Sam and Carlyle G. Smythe left Sydney on a train at 11:25 a.m. for Scone, a country town some 125 miles northwest and the farthest north the tour reached in the Australian leg, arriving at 7:15 p.m. Sam noted the war scare between England and America [NB 36 TS 1, 6]. Livy and Clara remained in Sydney, and may have gone to the National Park with Justice Sir William Windeyer. On the train in a first-class car, Sam observed an “imitation dude”:

Fellow of 30 with four valises; a slim creature, with teeth which made his mouth look like a neglected churchyard. He had solidified hair — solidified with pomatum; it was all one shell. He smoked the most extraordinary cigarettes — made of some kind of manure, apparently. These and his hair made him smell like the very nation. …

When the “imitation dude” left the train at a small town, he was replaced by a bishop and two clergymen. Sam then wrote of the scenery.

There was other scenery in the trip. That of the Hawksbury river, in the National Park region, fine — extraordinarily fine, with spacious views of stream and lake imposingly framed in woody hills….Further along, green flats, thinly covered with gum forests, with here and there the huts and cabins of small farmers engaged in raising children. Still further along, arid stretches, lifeless and melancholy. Then Newcastle, a rushing town, capital of the rich coal regions. Approaching Scone, wide farming and grazing level….Blazing hot all day [FE ch. XXXVI 326-7].

Gionni Di Gravio, archivist at the University of Newcastle writes of Sam’s possible stop in Newcastle:

It was hot…. Upon arrival he went to visit the dentist. The site of the Wells dentist that saw to Twain’s tooth was on the corner of Bolton and Scott Streets, Newcastle. … After the extraction of the tooth, Twain departed Newcastle for Scone arriving there in the afternoon. After being officially greeted and welcomed by the Mayor (Dr Scott) and Messr, J.A.K. Shaw and E.J. Sherwood, Vice President and Secretary to the School of Arts Twain retired to the Willow Tree Hotel for a rest. The Scone Advocate reported that he said ‘he was very tired and really looked it.’ At the evening lecture at the School of Arts, it was reported that people from Muswellbrook, Murrurundi, Aberdeen, Wingen and the Scone district all came to hear him. And after a humorous delivery of anecdotes and observations the highlight of the night was the recitation of his new Australian poem. The Scone Advocate provides the only evidence for the debut of this poem, entitled “A Sweltering Day in Australia”. He departed for Sydney the following morning [“Why Mark Twain Lost a Tooth in Newcastle – A Mythological Explanation” sent by Ron Hohenhaus of the Australian Mark Twain Society]. (Editorial emphasis.)

Sam wrote the dentist, William Henry Wells (see Note), a thank you note, which was not uncovered until the late 1970s in a private collection of dentristy books. From the text, the note is this day or the next, though it bears in another hand in pencil: “To Mr. Wells / Thursday / December 19th / 1895”:

Sir / I congratulate you on your ministrations. I now depart on my journey in greater comfort than upon my arrival. / I thank you. / Mark Twain [Di Gravio].

Note: It’s possible, as Hohenhaus suggests in his email Nov. 28, 2008, that Sam had the tooth extracted before leaving Sydney, pointing out that a Norman Wells, dentist, had an office only two blocks from Castlereagh Street and the Australia Hotel, where Mark was staying. Further, while a quick stop or train change in Newcastle was possible, a tooth “ministration” there or on the train would likely have been reported by the papers. Further, Robert Hirst of the MTP concludes the handwriting of the note is not Sam’s, nor does it appear to be Smythe’s, though it may have been dictated to someone else.

Sam performed his “At Home” lecture in Scone. Sam and Smythe stayed the night in Scone. Sam made notes about the threat of war between the US and Britain over Guiana. [Shillingsburg, “Down Under” 31; At Home 186-7].