June 29 Wednesday – In Kaltenleutgeben, Austria, Sam wrote to Thomas Bailey Aldrich.

Dear Aldrich—/ It is odd. Three days ago I was making reference to you in a magazine article; next day a friend came out from Vienna to call, & I happened to tell him about the time you scoffed at me for filling Howells’s house with my photos & neglecting to defile yours—whereupon I sent you 56, one at a time. I hadn’t thought of that incident since I-don’t-know-when; & to-day comes your letter [not extant] with mention of it. Some people think a letter is not a sentient thing & cannot make its approach known, but I have had several hundred opportunities to know better.

Sam thought “The best thing” for Aldrich to do was to visit Vienna, where the Clemens family would return and stay the winter. He hoped Clara would be done with her training and they might end their “exile” by next spring.

“Then we shall go home & shall be deeply content to burn the trunks & stay there. I like Europe—I like it very much indeed—but I am two or three thousand years old sometimes, & don’t like so much paddling around” [MTP].

Sam also wrote a one sentence followup note to his June 28 to Chatto & Windus—how many new books and booklets did C&W publish in a year? [MTP].

Sam also wrote to cousin Dr. James R. Clemens in London:

“When you & your father start summering around, don’t pass us by, but look in on us. This is a very nice village 10 miles from town, & we shall stay till fall. Mrs. Clemens is taking the water cure. There is no lake here, but there is one near by—& a row-boat. / With best regards…” [MTP]. Note: James’ father was Bryan M. Clemens (1839-1916), third cousin of Samuel L. Clemens. For a chart showing their common progenitor, see MTJ 23: 2 Fall, 1985 p.2