December 9 Monday – The Clemens party left Wanganui at 1 p.m. bound for Wellington (pop. 37,000) some 100 miles to the south; the train took nine hours, arriving at 10 p.m., too late to make his lecture appearance. Seats sold for this night were made valid for the next evening, Dec. 10, and Tuesday’s scheduled performance moved to Wednesday. Shillingsburg writes Sam had misread the express train schedule, missing the fine print that the express only ran on Tuesdays and Fridays.

December 8 Sunday – In Wanganui, a small earthquake took place, a usual occurrence for this area. Since no trains ran in Australia or N.Z., Sundays were usually one of rest, or sightseeing. Sam wrote of this day in FE:

December 7 Saturday – Sam and Carlyle Smythe traveled from New Plymouth back to Wanganui, a ten-hour trip by train. They stopped at Hawera an hour and a half where they ate lunch at the hotel. Advertisements advised people in Wellington that Sam’s performance had been changed from Monday to Tuesday, Dec. 10.

December 6 Friday – Sam traveled from Hawera to New Plymouth, some 48 miles in four hours, “12 m per hour” riding through the garden region. “From Stratford to N.P. it was difficult to stay in your seat, so tremendously rough was the road” [NB 34 TS 48]. He’d been advertised for two weeks by The Budget to speak in Alexandra Hall, which held a thousand people. The hall was packed and included some Maoris: Shillingsburg quotes newspapers and writes,

December 5 Thursday – Sam and Carlyle Smythe left the ladies in Wanganui at 8 a.m. for lecture engagements in Hawera (pop. 2,000) and New Plymouth (pop. 3,800). Sam gave his “At Home” lecture in Hawera’s Drill Hall to a standing room only crowd. The Hawera Star ran a review on Dec. 5 and 6 [Shillingsburg, “Down Under” 28; At Home 171].

Livy finished her Dec. 2 letter to Susy:

December 4 Wednesday – In Wanganui, Sam wrote of a crazed intruder, who burst into his rooms and warned that the Jesuits were going to poison him in his food, or kill him on the stage that night.

This lunatic has no delicacy. But he was not uninteresting. He told me a lot of things. He said he had “saved so many lecturers in twenty years, that they put him in the asylum.” I think he has less refinement than any lunatic I have met [FE Ch XXXV 320-1].

December 3 Tuesday – Sam called the four-hour train ride to Wanganui (pop. 14,000) “a pleasant trip.” Sam wrote of the area:

Much horseback riding, in and around this town; many comely girls in cool and pretty summer gowns; much Salvation Army; lots of Maoris; the faces and bodies of some of the old ones very tastefully frescoed. Maori Council House over the river — large, strong, carpeted from end to end with matting, and decorated with elaborate wood carvings, artistically executed. The Maoris were very polite [FE ch XXXV 318].

December 2 Monday – The Clemens party left Napier for Palmerston North (pop.12,000). FE:

December 1 Sunday – In Napier, N.Z. at Frank Moeller’s Masonic Hotel, Sam rested his carbuncles. Shillingburg gathers from the following Dec. 1 notebook entry that Sam may have been treated by a Dr. John Brown [Shillingsburg, “Down Under” 28].

Dr. John Brown—“Somebody you are acquainted with?” “No, dog, I’m not acquainted with” [NB 34 TS 45] Note: more likely Sam recalled his late friend the Scot Dr. John Brown.

December – In New Zealand Sam entered in his notebook:

At great intervals they have much snow & very hard winters in the Middle Island; Lady Barker tells of one [Gribben 47; NB 36 TS 3]. Note: Mary Anne Barker’s (Lady Broome) Station Life in New Zealand (1870).