November 21 Friday – Sam wrote from London to Livy. He’d gone shopping and purchased an overcoat, some meerschaum pipes, a “particularly nice” umbrella, a hat, a hatbrush, a couple of razors, and ordered “some patent leather shoes at a considerably higher price than one pays in Hartford for such things” [MTL 5: 480].
November 20 Thursday – Sam wrote from room 113 at the Langham to Livy. Sam was lonely, having breakfast but no one to share it with. His letter to Livy was wistful, resigned. His nickname for baby Susy was “Modoc,” coined by Joaquin Miller, Susy’s hair reminding him of the Modoc Indians he’d written about. Earlier, Sam had called her “Muggins” [MTL 5: 478].
November 19 Wednesday – Sam checked into his rooms at the Langham Hotel in London There he was joined by Charles Warren Stoddard. In an 1876 letter to Howells, asking him to recommend Stoddard for a consulship:
November 18 Tuesday – Sam arrived in Liverpool. Either Sam got a hotel room that night or took a train to London [MTL 5: 476; Powers, MT A Life 339].
November 17 Monday – The City of Chester arrived at Queenstown, Ireland at 6 PM. Sam telegraphed Livy [MTL 5: 476].
November 15 Saturday – Harper’s Weekly ran an engraving, 11×15 entitled, “THE LYCEUM COMMITTEEMAN’S DREAM—SOME POPULAR LECTURERS IN CHARACTER,” which featured nineteen lecturers, including Charles Dickens, and Mark Twain in a jester’s outfit [eBay Oct. 6, 2009 by nls, Item 360061792731]. See insert.
November 14 Friday – Sam wrote aboard the SS City of Chester en route to Livy—“7 day out.” Sam wrote of a half-gale and some rolling of the ship, an injury or two to passengers, a leaky dead-light in his cabin and of repairs to his clothing. “I have read all night during this [rough] weather—sleep would only tire me.”
November 10 and 17 Monday – Sam wrote aboard the SS City of Chester en route to Livy—“3 days out from N.Y.” After a long description of how wonderfully the ship was appointed, Sam referred to Livy’s pregnancy (she was two months along) and expressed some guilt that he had left her “at a time when you cannot exert yourself without peril.” Sam promised to telegraph as soon as he reached Queenstown and look for an answer in Liverpool or London.
November 8 Saturday – In the morning, Sam sailed alone on the City of Chester for England, where he would await publication by Routledge and continue lecturing [MTL 5: 472].
On board, Sam wrote to Livy:
From pages 95-107 The Life of Mark Twain - The Middle Years 1871-1891:
After lingering in Hartford for only three days, he railed to New York on December 7, apparently spent the night at the home of his friend Dan Slote, and embarked on the Inman steamer City of Chester the next morning, ...