April 6 Saturday – Sam left New York for Elmira [MTLE 3: 39].

April 5 Friday – Sam wrote a note at noon from New York to Frank Fuller, who was staying at the Sturtevant House. The note was not postmarked, so was likely delivered by courier. In an unidentified business matter, Sam wrote to give “him (unidentified) any interest that will fetch him.” He wrote that he’d been to the Sturtevant House to call on Mrs. Fuller, but had to rush off to meet an appointment, which hinged on one with Howells.

April 4 Thursday – Sam went to New York and checked into the St. James Hotel. He was to give a dinner speech at the Bayard Taylor Farewell Dinner in New York City, but “…was so jaded & worn…that I found I could not remember 3 sentences of the speech I had memorized, & therefore got up & said so & excused myself from speaking” [MTLE 3: 43].

March 29 Friday – Sam and Livy, the children and their nurse, Rosa, left New York and took the ten-hour train trip to Elmira, arriving at Mrs. Langdon’s [MTLE 3: 34; Susan Crane to Paine, June 14, 1911, The Twainian, Nov.-Dec.1956 p4].

March 28 Thursday – The Clemens family spent the day in New York City [Susan Crane to Paine, June 14, 1911, The Twainian, Nov.-Dec.1956 p4].

March 27 Wednesday – The Clemens family and their nurse, Rosa, left Hartford for New York, where they spent the night and all of the next day [MTLE 3: 34]. From Twichell’s journal:

“Our friends Mr & Mrs Mark Twain depart to-day to go to Europe, expecting to be about a year at least. The Lord prosper them. The last time I called on them Mark invited me to visit them in Germany next summer for two or three months at his expense. I mean to go” [Yale, copy at MTP].

March 26 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford, again to George Haven Putnam, organizer for the Bayard Taylor farewell banquet. Sam agreed to “talk four or five minutes, or rise in my place & excuse myself…” Sam argued he got more gratitude for an excuse than a speech, which he preferred over applause [MTLE 3: 38].

March 25 Monday – Still in Hartford, Sam and Livy wrote a note of thanks to the young ladies of the Saturday Morning Club for sending flowers to wish them a bon voyage [MTLE 3: 37].

March 23 Saturday – Sam had received Orion’s manuscript, and responded from Hartford with mild scolding about learning the trade (“God requires that he learn it by slow & painful processes”) and a sort of line-by-line critique. Sam was upset that Orion had imitated Jules Verne, and not burlesqued him [MTLE 3: 32-5]. One interesting point—Sam offered that he hated what had now become conventional language:

“Next came 100 people who looked like they had just been, &c”

March 20 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Charles Warren Stoddard of the empty Farmington Avenue house. Sam thought the family would be gone “two or three years.” Although Livy had written a loose itinerary, Sam purposely wanted to escape and not plan too much after that except to get some writing done. “We are packing trunks to-day,” Sam wrote [MTLE 3: 31].

Sam’s notebook entry included revision notes for “Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven” [MTNJ 2: 55].