October 27, 1895 Sunday

October 27 SundayJohn H. Wagner called for the Clemenses at their hotel. They were taken to the Wagner home, a “superb house” with a most beautiful view in Malvern, a suburb of Melbourne, where they spent 24 hours [OLC to Susan Crane Nov. 24, 1895].

October 26, 1895 Saturday

October 26 Saturday – The Clemens party left Maryborough at 5 a.m. and took the train through Castlemaine to Melbourne and the Spencer Street Station. They likely took rooms again at the Menzies Hotel on Latrobe Street. Sam gave a 3 p.m. matinee performance of “Mark Twain At Home” in Athenaeum Hall, Melbourne. The Melbourne Evening News ran a review of the lecture this same day.

October 25, 1895 Friday

October 25 Friday – The Clemens party left Bendigo at 5 a.m. and arrived in Maryborough in the afternoon. In ch. XXXI of FE Sam relates talking to a man he thought to be a minister who warned him about the bad hotel in Maryborough, and warned him with some swearing included. Upon arrival he asked the man’s friend if the man was in the ministry — “No — studying for it,” came the reply. They were met at the railroad station and driven to Town Hall for an official welcome in the Mayor’s parlor by Mayor F.J.

October 24, 1895 Thursday

October 24 Thursday – In the morning in Bendigo, the Clemens party toured the area of Lone Tree Hill with local newspaper publisher John Gregory Edwards and his wife in a Victoria carriage. In the afternoon Sam took part in a ceremony with the Mayor and city fathers, and received a keepsake booklet by Frank Fearn, a punster, poet, and artist who was “possessed of considerable literary ability.” Shillingsburg conjectures that Fearn was “Quite possibly…“Mr. Blank” in FE, ch.

October 23, 1895 Wednesday

October 23 Wednesday – From FE: Got up at 6, left at 7.30; soon reached Castlemaine, one of the rich gold-fields of the early days; waited several hours for a train; left at 3.40 and reached Bendigo in an hour. For comrade, a Catholic priest [Father Henry W. Cleary (NB 34 TS 21 misspells as “Creary”) ], who was better than I was, but didn’t seem to know it — a man full of graces of the heart, the mind, and the spirit; a lovable man. He will rise. He will be a bishop some day. Later an Arch-bishop. Later a Cardinal.

October 21, 1895 Monday

October 21 Monday – In Ballarat, Australia Sam gave his “Mark Twain At Home” (No. 1) lecture at Mechanics’ Institute. — Reviews published Oct. 22: Ballarat Courier, Ballarat Evening Echo, Ballarat Star [Shillingsburg, “Down Under” 17].

October 20, 1895 Sunday

October 20 Sunday – In Ballarat, Australia, Sam gave two interviews, one with J.W. Graham and the other possibly with Mr. Nivens. Sam stretched out on a hotel couch smoking both cigar and pipe, and complimented Australians as “more American than English.” The Ballarat Courier interview, “Interview with Mark Twain” Oct. 21 may be found in Scharnhorst, 240. The Ballarat Star interview, “A Chat with ‘Mark Twain,’ Impressions of Australia, also Oct.

October 19, 1895 Saturday

October 19 Saturday – Sam hated the town tours he was forced to take everywhere. In Stawell, Australia he took another tour, but this one over countryside with Mayor Menzies and Harry Foster, to Great Western Vineyards, some eight miles from Stawell. Mr. and Mrs. Hans Irvine owned the winery. His notebook entry claims he met the richest woman in Australia in Stawell [NB 34 TS 17].

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