January 20 Wednesday – Sam was in bed with pneumonia. During this week he wrote and revised his sixth and last letter for McClure’s Syndicate, “The German Chicago.” Paine calls this “a finely descriptive article on Berlin, and German customs and institutions generally” [MTB 936]. An excerpt:
January 19 Tuesday – Townsend Rushmore wrote from Plainfield, N.J. to Sam, having been reminded of a passage in IA of the “voice of the turtle that was heard in the land,” by a new edition of Ben Hur, p. 473 Vol. 2 [MTP].
Mary E. Bartlett wrote from Cheyenne about her “Mental Telegraphy” experience in Wyoming [MTP].
January 18 Monday – William H. Dana wrote from Warren, Ohio asking Sam where he might look for an unnamed book by Thomas Fuller Sam had referred to in a letter to a “young lady entering society” he’d seen in an unspecified journal [MTP].
Lotos Club sent Sam a form letter soliciting funds for a $100,000 second mortgage bond [MTP].
Scott H. Palmer wrote from Glenburn, Penn. to interest Sam in an “invention consisting in an appliance for automatic signaling on railways” [MTP].
January 17 Sunday – In Berlin, Sam was in bed suffering from pneumonia. Paine writes,
January 16 Saturday – In Berlin, Sam was in bed suffering from pneumonia.
Also published in The Illustrated News of the World, a third segment of “The Tramp Abroad Again” (New York issue), This is a serial segment using another name for AC. The periodical ran segments on Nov. 28, 1891 and Jan. 9, 16, 1892. The McClure Syndicate had the serial rights for AC prior to its publication by Webster & Co. in book form [Willson list, Univ. of Texas at Austin].
January 15 Friday – Delancey W. Teske wrote from Providence, R.I. for Sam’s autograph [MTP].
January 14 Thursday – Berlin, Germany. Paine writes that “Clemens awoke with a heavy cold and lung congestion. He remained in bed, a very sick man indeed, for the better part of a month” [MTB 935]. Note: Sam would spend 38 days in bed [Feb. 22 to E.A. Reynolds Ball].
January 13 Wednesday – Sam gave a reading for the benefit of the Berlin American Church at the YMCA Hall, Berlin, Germany [Fatout 660; NY Times Jan.3, 1892, p.3 “Court Calls in Berlin”]. Note: It’s not known what Sam read.
January 12 Tuesday – The Clemenses left Ilsenburg for Berlin [NB 31 TS 21]. At the Hotel Royal, Sam wrote to an unidentified man who’d asked for a picture of Sam, and wondered what the name of his new book would be. If the man wanted an electrotype of an engraving of Sam, he might write Webster & Co. for one made from the LAL; if a photograph, the company could get one from Sarony, as Sam had none with him.
January 11 Monday – In Ilsenburg, Sam’s notebook:
The night before we came away the old Fürstin & the Princess came over to supper & spent the evening. They are lovely people & good English scholars. The Fürstin is a poet, too. I spun yarns & she translated them to the company [NB 31 TS 21]. Note: Fürsten von Reuss.
Edgar W. (Bill) Nye, always the joker, typed a note to Sam: