Submitted by scott on

From Sam’s notebook:

Took Dittura &  Graham’s gondolier & started for the mainland at a point (Fusina) 2 hours  away. A steady, heavy rain. Had the casa on & the windows closed. Lit my  best cigar, put on my slippers, propped my feet on the little starboard bench  which brought them within a foot of the ½ glass door—wonderfully snug & cosy. Looked out on the ruffled & rainy seas a while after I was beyond the  shipping & fairly away from Venice—then  recognizing that I could never be so cosy again, got out Marryatt’s Pacha of  Many Tales & read.

But the seas grew very  rough.

Made the trip in 34  minutes, having a strong wind on our beam & the tide with us—went mainly  sideways.  Arrived at 10.45

Tide changed & I  started back at 12.30 in a driving storm of rain & a strong head wind &  heavy sea.

Arrived home at  2.30—went in 34 minutes—returned in 2 hours [MTNJ 2: 209-10].

Note: the reference is to Frederick Marryat’s (1792-1848) The Pacha of Many Tales (1847)  [Gribben 452].

Sam then wrote a list of grievances  about Burk as a courier, and a list of songs he was  considering for the music box he’d purchased in Geneva [211-12].

From Livy’s pen to her  mother:

We find altogether too  much social life in Venice for our comfort….We have had a most delightful week going about among the pictures, and some of them have been such a great delight  to us that we shall leave them with real regret. This week too I have done a  good deal of shopping…several most beautiful pieces of wood carving…a carved  chest that I have bought for our hall…shipped to Liverpool…Then we found a most  wonderful old carved bedstead that was a great beauty—that we got for our room  [Salsbury 86].

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.   

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