October 11, 1891 Sunday

October 11 Sunday – The Boston Globe ran “MARK TWAIN — A PEN PICTURE,” an interesting sketch and discussion of Sam’s success.

America’s Richest and Most Famous Author at Home and on the Platform.

Wild and peculiar is Mark Twain.

He has a big head stuck on by a long neck to a pair of round shoulders. He goes on to the lecture platform as if he were half asleep, and he looks as if nature, in putting him together, had, somehow, got the joints mixed.

October 9, 1891 Friday

October 9 Friday – In their winter quarters at 7 Körnerstrasse, Berlin, Sam wrote to Chatto & Windus, enclosing a picture of the Wirt fountain pen he’d lost, and asking them to send him another, or to forward his note on to Webster & Co. if they couldn’t find one. Sam claimed he was “helpless” without it [MTP].

October 8, 1891 Thursday

October 8 Thursday – Another travel day for the Clemens party, making the last leg from Frankfurt to Berlin, some 340 miles, by train. Joseph Verey may have accompanied the family on to Berlin. No letter from Berlin prior to Oct. 9 is extant.

October 7, 1891 Wednesday

October 7 Wednesday – Stopping at Frankfurt on the Main (Frankfurt) the Clemens party may have spent the night at the Hotel Continental. Sam telegraphed Chatto & Windus from the hotel, sending his new address for the next six months in Berlin, 7 Körnerstrasse, and asking them to send him a copy of “The Table,” a cookbook just issued by Webster & Co. “Don’t divulge my address, please” [MTP].

October 6, 1891 Tuesday

October 6 Tuesday – A travel day for the Clemens party on their way to Berlin. Sam’s notebook:

Strassburg, Oct. 6.—Arles is very well, perhaps; but this is the place for pretty girls, apparently [NB 31 TS 8].

Susy Clemens and her Aunt Sue Crane went apart from the rest of the family to the Hotels Schweizerhof & Luzernhof at Lucerne, Switzerland. Susy wrote to Louise Brownell:

October 5, 1891 Monday

October 5 Monday – The planned day to leave Ouchy-Laussane for Berlin. According to Rodney, the family made this long trip in two days, stopping at Basel, Switzerland [138] and then Frankfurt, where Sam telegraphed Chatto & Windus on Oct. 7.

Katy Leary was sent back to Elmira in order to save money. She wrote of the parting:

October 4, 1891 Sunday

October 4 Sunday – Sam may have returned after midnight (Oct. 3-4). His notebook simply gives Oct. 4 as “Go to Ouchy” [NB 31 TS 7]. Rodney gives this as his date of return to Ouchy and says the family was packed and ready to travel [138]. In his Sept. 28 letter to Livy, Sam had suggested they go to Basel, Switzerland the day after his arrival, some 125 miles, and then on to Berlin on Monday, Oct. 5.

Palais des Papes

The Palais des Papes (English: Palace of the Popes; lo Palais dei Papas in Occitan) is a historical palace located in Avignon, Southern France. It is one of the largest and most important medieval Gothic buildings in Europe. Once a fortress and palace, the papal residence was a seat of Western Christianity during the 14th century. Six papal conclaves were held in the Palais, leading to the elections of Benedict XII in 1334, Clement VI in 1342, Innocent VI in 1352, Urban V in 1362, Gregory XI in 1370 and Benedict XIII in 1394.

October 3, 1891 Saturday

October 3 Saturday – Sam’s notebook:

Avignon. Oct. 3.—leaving, 11 am. Papal palace. This old factory—for that is what it looks like, with its gray walls (that have a plastered look) & its straight lines & sharp corners & four or 5 chimney-like projections—absence of ornament, & utter & unapproachable ugliness.

Palace—why that is a word which suggests & promises elegance, ornament, beauty costly decoration, rich furniture not a stable, a factory [NB 31 TS 8].

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