December 12 Sunday – In Vienna, Austria Sam wrote an aphorism to an unidentified person: “The proper proportions of a maxim: a minimum of sound to a maximum of sense. Truly yours, Mark Twain. Vienna,
Dec. 12/97” [MTP: Philip C. Duschnes catalog].
December 11 Saturday – Here—as in London—Livy & the girls find that the name Clemens is no sufficient disguise. They have Pleasant adventures.
Sam related an episode of Clara and Katy Leary’s the day before, with a cabbie and a box office man at a theater, who softened once Clara gave the name Clemens.
Livy has adventures, too. And Katy—but you know Katy. If I should start in on Katy’s adventures with this family’s name, a certain amount of time would be consumed.
December 10 Friday – At the Metropole Hotel, Vienna, Austria, Sam replied to Harold Godwin’s Dec. 9 that “a gratifying large per centage” of his creditors had written letters to him that he was “proud to keep.” Sam thanked him personally for his personal letter and “for the spirit which moved” Godwin to do what he did “in the matter of the indebtedness” [MTP]. Note: For Sam to have answered Godwin’s Dec. 9, he must have received a cable from Katharine Harrison regarding the matter. The cable is not extant.
December 9 Thursday – In Vienna, Austria, Livy wrote to Chatto & Windus, who evidently had asked for clarification about the little book containing “Meisterschaft” she had requested on Dec. 2. Sam thought it might be in the book of sketches containing “The £1,000,000 Bank Note,” or perhaps in The Stolen White Elephant. , If it wasn’t in any English volume, not to bother further with it [MTP].
December 8 Wednesday – Sam and perhaps others of the family attended the opera Die Walkure, with Gustav Mahler in his first season as the Hofoperndirektor, after which he noted, “W.[agner’s] music is better than it sounds.”
Dolmetsch writes,
December 7 Tuesday – Sam attended the Burgtheater for a premiere of Gerhart Hauptmann’s Die versunkene Glocke (The Sunken Bell). One or both of his daughters may have accompanied him. Livy was still not going out in public [Dolmetsch 113-14].
December 5 Sunday – The full front page of the Oesterreichische Illustrirte Zeitung featured a cartoon with Mark Twain telling tales to the locals [Dolmetsch 139]. Tenney cites the article inside as “Mark Twains humoristische Schriften” [26].
December 2 Thursday – At the Metropole Hotel, Vienna, Austria, Livy wrote to Chatto & Windus, asking them to send her husband’s book which contained “the little farce ‘The Miesterschaft’” to Frau Hof Kapell -Meister Hans Richter, in Vienna. She also asked that the new Life of Lord Tennyson by his son be sent to Mrs. Langdon in Elmira ( Ida Langdon) [MTP]. Note: Hans Richter was the chief conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic.
December 1 Wednesday – At the Metropole Hotel, Vienna, Austria, Livy wrote for Sam to Chatto & Windus, asking them to please forward an enclosed letter for Samuel McClure’s London office as Sam did not know the address [MTP].
December – A cartoon of Mark Twain by F. Graetz as “The American Diogenes” appeared on the cover of the December issue of Der Floh. The background scene includes politicians rioting, with Sam standing amidst the rubble and street pipes being installed, which he had complained of. See insert.
Sam’s notebook entry lists Ralph Keeler’s 1869 novel, Gloverson and His Silent Partners: “librarian had a copy” [NB 42 TS 50].