June 6 Saturday – In Durban, S. Africa, Livy and Clara took a tug and boarded the Athenian, captained by W. Martin of the Union Steam Ship Co. The ship left Durban at about 4 p.m., headed for Port Elizabeth with a stop on June 7 at East London.
Sam spent some time at the Queenstown Club enjoying wine and sharing speeches [Philippon 20; Parsons, “Clubman in S.A.” 249].
June 5 Friday – In Queenstown Sam had lunch at the home of A.D. Webb, the noted attorney who had sponsored Carlyle G. Smythe at the Queenstown Club. In the evening Sam gave his 90-minute “At Home” (No.1) lecture to a packed audience at the Town Hall. The Queenstown Representative reviewed the talk on June 8, an article signed by “Autocycus,” who Parsons suggests may have been F.C.T. von Lisigen.
June 4 Thursday – Sam and Carlyle Smythe arrived at Queenstown, Cape Colony (pop. 4,000+) at 7 a.m. They took rooms at Joplin’s Commercial Hotel, where Sam slept six hours. Later in the day the pair were admitted to the Queenstown Club, where their names were entered in the Club Visitors Book by W. Wainright, and A.D. Webb, a prominent attorney. They would return in two days for wine and speeches [Philippon 20; Parsons, “Clubman in S.A.” 249].
June 3 Wednesday – In Bloemfontein, S. Africa Sam wrote on Free State Hotel stationery to Livy:
Well, sweetheart, I have been 3 hours packing & shaving — 7.30 to 10.30; & now I haven’t anything left to do but do up two suits of clothes & some soiled linen & cigars & things in the shawl-strap, & I’ll be ready for the train. I never open the large valise. It is nicely & compactly packed, & I leave it just as you left it. If I should take anything out, I couldn’t get it back again.
June 2 Tuesday – In Bloemfontein, Carlyle G. Smythe was interviewed by the Friend of the Free State, as he was a few other times during the tour. Several newspapers ran articles about Twain and his S. African tour [Philippon 20].
The Queenstown Free Press, June 2, 1896
MARK TWAIN IN QUEENSTOWN.
June 1 Monday – In the afternoon in Bloemfontein, S. Africa, Sam wrote to Livy, having received no letter in nearly 48 hours in the town. He rested easy because she was with Clara. He wrote of the landscape and of his activities of the day, taking notes and working on an “extravagant romance,” he’d thought of for “many years.”
June – Sam joked about the obscurity of Robert Browning’s Sordello in NB 38 TS 32, doubting whether Browning himself understood some passages. He attributed the joke to Carlyle Smythe [Gribben 106].
McClure’s Magazine VII p.73-8 ran “Portraits of Mark Twain,” with fifteen half-tone portraits of Sam and his birthplace, along with a brief, conventional biographical sketch [Tenney 24].
May 31 Sunday – Sam spent the day sightseeing in Bloemfontein. In FE:
May 30 Saturday – The Clemens party arrived in Bloemfontein, S. Africa at 4 p.m. after “18 hours steady travel….Fine cars, easy riding, all the conveniences.” He thought the veldt in winter “as beautiful as Paradise,” and Bloemfontein “even prettier than Pretoria” [Philippon 19; June 1 to Livy]. Sam wrote a letter of admiration to Mrs. Chapin (Adele):
May 29 Friday – In Johannesburg Sam wrote to his beloved:
Dear, dear, Livy dear, it was a busy day yesterday & day before & on one or the other I failed to write you — the first failure, I believe.
I saw Mr. Davis last night, & he gave me good news of you & Clara — that you were well & enjoying life; Poultney Bigelow has arrived, & is mighty likeable….He leaves for Natal soon & I hope he will find you still in Durban. He sails thence for Zanzibar. I love you most dearly, sweetheart. / Saml [MTP].