Day By Day Dates

February 2 Tuesday – At the Hotel Royal in Berlin and still down in bed, Sam wrote to Frederick J. Hall, again about The American Claimant, which was to be issued as a one-dollar book as soon as the serialized version was completed. He directed Hall to get someone “competent & conscientious” to prepare the copy and read proofs, confessing he wouldn’t be able to do that “for some time to come.” He also directed Hall to coordinate the effort with Chatto for English publication.

February 5 Friday – At the Hotel Royal in Berlin and still down in bed, Sam wrote to Frederick J. Hall. The doctor had ordered Sam to leave for the south of France as soon as he was able. Sam put his new address at the top of the letter, his Paris banker. He’d received a sample Mark Twain’s Memory Builder from Hall, and pointed out the flaws in the boards.

It will not be well to send any of these boards out — they will come back to you, sure.

February 6 Saturday – Andrew F. Brady wrote from Blackwater, Mo. that he was reading AC running in the St. Louis Republican. The character of Nat Brady led Andrew to surmise that Sam had Andrew’s father in mind, James N. Brady, who died in July of 1889. “Can it be?” [MTP].

February 7 Sunday – The N.Y. Sun, The Boston Daily Globe and other McClure Syndicate newspapers ran Sam’s Europe letter, “Marienbad — A Health Factory” (The Globe titled it “MARK TWAIN’S GOUT”. The Illustrated London News reprinted segments with the title “An Austrian Health-Factory” on Feb. 20, Mar. 5, and Mar. 12, 1892 [Willson list, Univ. of Texas at Austin].

February 8 Monday – Harry Edwards Fund sent Sam a printed circular soliciting funds to raise $15,000 for the purchase of Harry’s “magnificent Entomological Collection.” Dr. William C. Prime was quoted. [MTP]. Note: a unique way of “bugging” Mark Twain.

February 9 Tuesday – C.E. Raymond for J. Walter Thompson Magazine and Newspaper Advertising wrote to Sam about his “Telegraphy” article, noting that the July 1891 Harper’s — a serial story by W.D. Howells (“An Imperative Duty”) — and the Oct. 1891 Century article — Matt Crim’s, “Was it an Exceptional Case” — were very similar in plot. Had Sam noticed? [MTP].

February 10 Wednesday – Mrs. M.J. Kimball wrote from Sunbury, Ohio to Sam after reading his “Telegraphy” article with her own examples and a request to help her get her stories published [MTP].

February 11 Thursday – Sam’s notebook in Berlin:

Feb. 11. Court ball night (& on other such functions at the palace) the footmen up by the drivers wear a placard on their hats — showing that carriage contains invitees — otherwise it couldn’t turn in to its place with the rest but would be switched off [NB 31 TS 25].

February 12 Friday – At the Hotel Royal in Berlin and still down in bed, Sam wrote to Augustin Daly, who had written (not extant) seeking to dramatize The American Claimant. Sam wrote he would have cabled his agreement but was unable to. He related the story of the play by that name which A.P. Burbank tried to produce, attempts which Sam said cost him money.

February 14 Sunday – Sam’s notebook: “Professor Helmholtz called” [NB 31 TS 26].

Paine quotes Sam’s record of this day that Professor Rudolf Virchow visited, “but unfortunately leaves no further memorandum of that visit.” Did Paine confuse Helmholtz with Virchow? Or, did both men stop by? Paine also notes that Sam was “quite recovered” by this time, and quotes his final entry:

February 16 Tuesday – Dr. Richard Hodgson (1855-1905) of the American Society for Psychical Research wrote to Sam asking for corroborative testimonies and supporting documentation for Sam’s Dec. 1891 article, “Mental Telegraphy” in Harper’s [“An Incident by ‘Mark Twain’ Verified,” by Walter F. Prince, Journal of the Am. Soc. For Psychical Research, Vol. XV Jan. 1921]. Printed circulars were enclosed. Note: William Wright (Dan De Quille) and Charles T.

February 17 Wednesday – Clara H. Backus wrote from Wallaston, Mass. It is a rambling, non-sensical letter; Sam wrote on the envelope, “Crazy” [MTP].

February 18 Thursday – Helen M. Reynolds wrote from Wilkesbarre, Penn. to Sam after reading his “Telegraphy” article. Helen pointed out “something similar in Dr. Holmes’ book, “Over the Teacups,” and asked if Sam had seen it [MTP]. Note: it seems everyone and his brother wanted to share similar “mental” oddities with Sam, or had an opinion on the matter. No other Twain essay seems to have stimulated this amount of response.

February 19 Friday – In Berlin for the first time in 37 days Sam went out of the Hotel Royal for a half hour [Feb. 20 to Whitmore].

February 20 Saturday – In Berlin at General Maximillian von Versen’s, Sam had dinner with Emperor William II. A few days before, Sam entered in his notebook:

In that day the Imperial lion & the democratic lamb shall sit down together & a little General shall feed them [NB 31 TS 27].

February 22 Monday – At the Hotel Royal in Berlin, Sam wrote to E.A. Reynolds Ball, an English travel writer. Sam belatedly thanked Ball for sending a book (probably Mediterranean Winter Resorts 1888):

February 23 Tuesday – M.R. Jewell typed a four-page letter to Sam with more experiences of “Mental Telegraphy”. As with several other of these responses, Sam wrote “Psychology” on the envelope [MTP].

February 24 Wednesday – Edward J. Shriver sent a form letter soliciting Sam’s signature on a petition for the Single Tax [MTP].

February 26 Friday – In Berlin at the Hotel Royal Sam wrote to Samuel S. McClure. Webster & Co. had forwarded McClure’s cable from London asking for a “letter at once,” which Sam took to be one a syndicate letter. His illness kept him from correcting or dictating it further, but he felt it “pretty plainly written,” and promised to mail it the next day.

February 27 Saturday – After attending a dinner at midnight on Feb. 26, Sam wrote in his notebook:

Dinner at Coleman’s, Secretary of legation. Rottenburg, Vermouth, (German Commissioner of Chicago Fair,) one of the Foreign Secretaries of State, the von Versens, Col. Swayne — & others. At the Emperor’s dinner black cravats were ordered. To-night I went in a black cravat — & everybody else wore white. Just my luck [NB 31 TS 32].

February 29 Monday – Sam and Livy left the children to their studies in Berlin for the sunnier climes of the French Riviera and a three week rest to regain their health. According to Sam’s Feb. 26 to McClure, they took “3 or 4 days” to arrive, or by Mar. 3 or 4. The distance is nearly a thousand miles from Berlin to the Riviera, so they undoubtedly rested one or two nights along the way [Feb. 26 to McClure; Mar. 21 to Moffett]

March – Brander Matthews’ article, “American Fiction Again,” ran in Cosmopolitan, p.636-40. From Tenney:

March 1 Tuesday – Sam and Livy were in transit to Menton, France.

March 2 Wednesday – Sam and Livy were in transit to Menton, France.

Robert McClure, brother of Samuel S. McClure, wrote to Sam at his Paris address from his London office. Sam would forward this letter to Hall on Mar. 8.

Dear Mr. Clemens: —

I have to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 26th ult., also manuscript of the fifth article which I am having type-written and forwarded to New York.

March 3 Thursday – On this day or the next the Clemens family arrived in Menton, France, the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region in southeastern France on the border of Italy. Menton has the nickname, “the pearl of France.” The Mediterranean town boasts a warm micro-climate, with lemon, tangerine and orange groves. Rodney writes this as a five-day trip, but gives Mar. 1 as the departure date rather than Feb. 29 [141].