November 1 Saturday – Orion Clemens wrote two one-page letters to Sam:

I am very sorry you were delayed; but it could not be foreseen. / You have nothing to regret toward Ma. You did all you could, and really and generously; but I feel that your praises are real deserved. I am stung with remorse. If I had her back I would recall and abolish every harsh or over-done modulation of voice; I would talk and listen to her more; I would cheer her oftener with hopes of the impossible.

placeholder

October 31 Friday – Sam arrived back home in Hartford, either late in the evening or in the wee hours of Nov. 1.

October 30 Thursday – Sam arrived in Hannibal at 9:55 a.m. Jane Clemens was buried in the afternoon under a large tree at Mount Olivet Cemetery, next to the graves of her husband John Marshall Clemens, and son, Henry Clemens. Sam left for home again in the evening [MTNJ 3: 592n67; Powers, MT A Life 532].

From Burlington, Iowa Sam wrote to Orion and Mollie Clemens, thanking them both for their faithful service in taking care of Jane Clemens “these terrible 8 years.” His trip back was stalled.

October 29 Wednesday – Sam arrived in Chicago at 6:45 p.m. and left at 10:30 p.m. He would arrive at Hannibal the next morning, Oct. 30, the day of the funeral.

October 28 Tuesday – Sam endured the grueling 24-hour turned into 48-hour train trip to Hannibal, Mo., for his mother’s funeral.

From his notebook:

Oct. 28. Left at 8.03 a.m. Left Springfield at 10.32 a.m. Should have reached Chicago at 10.10 next a.m. Really got there 6.45 p.m. Took C.B. & Q at 10.30 p.m. Due at Quincy without change at 8.30 next morning. Hannibal at 9.55 [3: 592].

October 27 Monday – Jane Lampton Clemens, Sam’s mother, died at age 87.

Sam and Clara Clemens left Bryn Mawr and arrived back in Hartford by evening where they were met with the news of Jane’s death, probably by telegram from Orion and Mollie Clemens [Oct. 23 to Hall].

James G. Batterson for Travelers Insurance, Hartford wrote to Sam: “News from Bryn Mawr received. I shall be at my office all day to-morrow” [MTP].

October 26 Sunday – Sam and Clara Clemens were in the third and last day of their visit at Bryn Mawr College with Susy. See Nov. 4 from Burdette.

In Hartford Livy wrote to her mother:

October 25 Saturday – Sam and Clara Clemens were in the second day of their visit at Bryn Mawr College with Susy.

Frederick J. Hall wrote to Sam that he would be “up next Tuesday on the train that leaves New York at 8 o’clock and arrives Hartford at 11.38” [MTP].

October 24 Friday – Sam and daughter Clara Clemens took the train from Hartford at 12:25 p.m. They got off at New Haven and took a Shore Line boat with a parlor car, all the way to Philadelphia. Sam thought it a “Mighty lovely trip.”

Dining room on the boat, skirting around New York, & an hour & ten minutes to eat (a poor) dinner in. Ben [Clara] ate two buttered rolls at New Haven & nearly a thimble full of baked potato on that boat.