November 22 Friday – Sam arrived in Washington, D.C. and roomed with his new employer, Senator William Morris Stewart (1827-1909) in a second-floor apartment run by 70-year-old Miss Virginia Wells. “Clemens took his meals and socialized at the Round Robin bar at the Willard Hotel (see insert picture)….a favorite watering hole of Washington power brokers” [Bliss 64].
November 21 Thursday – After a dinner with the New York Herald’s editorial board, Sam took the night train to Washington, D.C [MTL 2: 109 n2; Bliss 58].
Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Twenty-five” dated Sept. 6 ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 168-72].
Elisha P. Bliss (1822-1880) of the American Publishing Co. wrote to Clemens:
November 19 Tuesday – Charles Dickens arrived in Boston to begin a five-month tour, lecturing and reading from his works [MTL 2: 104n3].
Quaker City arrived at New York City at 10 AM to complete the excursion, 5 months and 11 days long.
November 17 Sunday – Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Twenty-four” dated Sept. 5 ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 163-68].
November 15 Friday – QC left St. George at 8 AM. [MTL 2: 105 n5].
November 14 Thursday – Stormy weather continued, delaying the departure of the QC [D. Hoffman 23].
November 13 Wednesday – A gale from the NW came up, continuing throughout the day. Just after midnight: The ship was anchored about a mile from shore. A rising wind and current made rowing back difficult. Mary Fairbanks wrote:
“Our oarsmen tugged manfully, and ‘Mark Twain’ held the rudder with a strong hand, while the spray dashed over his Parisian broadcloth and almost extinguished his inevitable cigar” [D. Hoffman 22].
November 12 Tuesday – The group rode in carriages to the Gibbs Hill lighthouse, an unusual structure built in 1844-6, mostly from cast-iron parts made in England. The group then returned to the Hamilton Hotel for a meal. Afterward they traveled back to St. George’s for an evening at the W.C.J. and Mary Hyland’s. Hyland was a “fellow Christian and eminent citizen of St.
November 11 Monday – QC arrived at St. George, Bermuda at dawn.
“…the beautiful Bermudas rose out of the sea, we entered the tortuous channel, steamed hither and thither among the bright summer islands, and rested at last under the flag of England and were welcome” [IA Ch.60].
November 10 Sunday – Sam’s “Holy Land Excursion. Letter from Mark Twain Number Twenty-three” dated Aug. 27 at “Yalta, Russia” ran in the Alta California [McKeithan 157-63].