September 30 Friday – Florence, Italy: the date of an engagement Sam accepted on Sept. 25 to Mr. Loring’s. At the Villa Viviani, Sam wrote a long letter to Sue Crane. Livy was unable to write, Sam disclosed.
September 29 Thursday – In Florence Sam wrote a short notes to Frederick J. Hall. The first note:
Yours of the 19th containing M 2.086.5 received. Good — I needed it. Setting up housekeeping calls for rafts of inexpensive odds & ends that bulk-up a considerable expense before one gets through.
You sent out an enormous cargo of volumes in August [MTP].
September 28 Wednesday – At the Villa Viviani in Florence, Sam wrote to Laurence Hutton at the Hotel Royal Danichi in Venice. Sam added the note to the envelope, “To be kept till the cuss comes.” He recommended a pension (similar to today’s hostel) to Hutton, should he not wish a hotel.
Eight francs a day per person, baths & lights & that sort of thing extra. Most highly recommended.
September 27 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook in Florence:
Sept. 27. Hired landau & 2 horses & coachman of Picci at 480 francs (lire) a month for 8 months, which covers everything (wages, board, feed, &c), except the coachman’s bed & pourboire [gratuity]. Either party can annul the agreement by giving 15 days’ notice to the other [NB 32 TS 27].
September 26 Monday – Susy Clemens finished her Sept. 25 letter to Louise Brownell (see Sept. 25).
In his notebook Sam made a memorandum to “order Galignani & l’Italy” (Galignani’s Messenger, a daily English-language publication from Paris) [Gribben 250; NB 32, TS 26].
This was in a long list of items to get and do, including:
September 25 Sunday – The Clemenses moved into the Villa Viviani, five miles outside of Florence, Italy [Sept. 24 to Phelps].
Susy began a letter “on our first Sunday in Florence” to Louise Brownell, and finished it on Sept. 26 (though the letter was not postmarked until Oct. 13.) She related the delay the family experienced in Frankfurt (see Sept. 12 entry), and continued:
September 24 Saturday – In Florence Sam wrote to William W. Phelps relating their “longest trip on record,” and asking for his assistance in securing some of their personal effects which had gone astray. He gave the name of Dietrich as one of the names of the shipping company, and their last address in Berlin, though he knew they’d moved, and then related their problem:
September 23 Friday – In Florence, Italy Sam wrote to Frederick J. Hall, responding to his Sept. 6 letter (not extant; see entry). Sam enclosed notes with which to borrow funds from Mt. Morris Bank, discussed Hall’s plan to send monthly payments if “several hundred dollars” to him, and offered thoughts about how to proceed on the typesetter issues, as well as a short discussion of the family situation:
September 22 Thursday – The Clemens family left Milan at 11:45 a.m. and traveled five hours to Bologna, Italy. According to Sam’s Sept. 24 to Phelps the family completed the schedule as outlined in his Sept. 18 to Sue Crane — The family left Bologna and arrived in Florence, Italy. In his Sept. 30 to Sue, Sam wrote:
September 21 Wednesday – According to Sam’s Sept. 30 to Sue Crane, the family fell behind their earlier schedule outlined in his Sept. 18 to Sue, and were forced to spend two nights in Milan. This was the second day and night. It could have only been on this second evening that Sam spoke before the Literary Congress in Milan. As reported in the New York Times, October 16, 1892, p.20. William Henry Bishop, reported: