July 4 Saturday – This was a travel day. At 8 a.m. the Clemens party arrived at Victoria West Road (now Hutchinson), some 419 miles northeast of Cape Town [Philippon 23]. Sam sent a postcard of July 4th “salutations” to Hartford lawyer and friend, Henry C. Robinson [MTP].
July 3 Friday – In Kimberley Sam went on drives with A.M. Robeson to the Bulfontein and new Wesselton mines. At 8:30 p.m. the Clemens party left Kimberley on a first-class rail car, bound for Cape Town some 647 miles southwest [Philippon 23]. Parsons writes of this leg of the journey:
July 2 Thursday – In Kimberley the Clemenses “went over the Kimberley mines” with Mr. and Mrs. Robeson, viewing the No. 2 washout, the concentrators, and the pulsator, a diamond-separating machine. Sam also visited the Kimberley Club [Philippon 23; Parsons, “Traveler in S.A.” 34].
July 1 Wednesday – In Kimberley, Sam accompanied A.M. Robeson, assistant engineer to the general manager of DeBeers, Gardner Williams, and viewed the diamond mines and the “Big Hole.” A day’s yield was on display — Sam’s notebook lists it as worth $50,000. In FE, ch. 69 he gives it as $70,000.
July – The Idler IX p.901-6, “Mark Twain Up-to-Date,” was a brief, general discussion of Mark Twain without new information but with fourteen photos of Sam at various ages and an excellent photo of his birthplace at Florida, Mo. before restoration [Tenney 24].
June 30 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook:
June 30, Tuesday. Left Cradock 7 p.m. [June 29] Cold night. 10 hours without a urinal. Damnation! [Parsons, “Travelers in S.A.” 32].
June 29 Monday – The Clemens party spent the day in Cradock. Parsons writes that the town was the “home off and on of ‘the best-known woman in Africa’,” Olive Schreiner. The lady’s book, Story of an African Farm was more successful in the U.S. and greatly influenced Sam’s idea of the Boer. Parsons claims, “In some measure Mark Twain saw South Africa through her eyes as he had seen India through Rudyard Kipling’s” [“Traveler in S.A.” 32]. Note: Sam wrote the name of this book in his notebook on Nov.
June 28 Sunday – In Hartford the Clemenses old neighbor and Nook Farm saint, Harriet Beecher Stowe, died at age 85. Her funeral was held on July 2, at 73 Forest Street (see entry).
At 11: 40 a.m. in Grahamstown, the Clemens group were bound for Kimberley. Parsons writes,
June 27 Saturday – In Grahamstown, S. Africa, with a poor night of sleep due to hotel staff, Sam changed his accommodations to the Grahamstown Club. In the evening at the Albany Drill Hall, Sam gave his “At Home” (No. 2) talk. Grocott’s Penny Mail reviewed the performance on June 29 and reported that one man traveled 400 miles to hear Mark Twain [Philippon 22].
June 26 Friday – In Grahamstown, S. Africa, Sam and Carlyle Smythe were admitted to the Grahamstown Club, and entered in the visitor’s book along with their two proposers (sponsors):
1896, June 26 S Clemens (Mark Twain) U.S.A. [proposed and seconded by:] W.A.H. Holland B.L.W. Kitching [Parsons, “Clubman in S.A.” 251]. Note: Holland was the Town Clerk and Treasurer of the Club; Kitching was Rev. [Parsons, “Traveler in S.A.” 30-1].