August 4 Sunday – Alta California printed Sam’s article “THE DOMES OF YOSEMITE,” dated June 2 [Schmidt]. Camfield lists this as “Letter from Mark Twain” No. 24 [bibliog.].
Innocents Abroad: Day By Day
August 7 Wednesday – Sam and friends left Naples in the morning for two days on the island of Ischia. Sam wrote from Naples to Frank Fuller, the man who had acted as his agent to secure the Cooper Union hall in New York for Sam’s lecture. Sam declined to agree to anything in writing about a lecture circuit offer that Fuller had relayed from Edwin Lee Brown of the Young Men’s Library Association of Chicago [MTL 2: 75-6 n2].
August 9 Friday – Sam and friends returned to Naples in the morning. At midnight Sam, Jackson, Nesbit, Newell, and 4 others unidentified, left for Mt. Vesuvius. Sam wrote from Naples to his mother and family. Sam wrote to William Morris Stewart (1827-1909) accepting a secretary position:
Key West – New York – Charles Webb Published The Jumping Frog
52 hours to St. Louis – Artemus Ward Dead – Lectures in Hannibal, Keokuk & Quincy
Back in New York – A Night in Jail – Three Lectures in the Big Apple
Quaker City Five-month Excursion– Miniature Portrait in the Bay of Smyrna
A Post in Washington – Elisha Bliss – Sam Met Livy
Upon arriving in New York in January of 1867, Twain heard of the planned Quaker City pleasure excursion to Europe and the Holy Land.
He was already contracted with the Daily Alta California newspaper, as a traveling correspondent and convinced the paper to finance his joining the excursion. The letters Twain wrote on this journey led to his book, "The Innocents Abroad". He visited the Azores, Morocco, France and Italy, where he avoided quarantine at Naples. He broke quarantine in Greece. He visited the Ottoman Empire, Russia and took a 2-week horse ride through "The Holy Land". On the way home the ship stopped in Egypt, Spain and the Bermudas. Although not included in his book, Sam again broke quarantine in Spain.
January 30 Wednesday – At the end of January, New York papers announced the “members of Beecher’s congregation are organizing an excursion to the Holy Land, Crimea and Greece. They propose to charter a steamer, and leave in June. Rev. Mr. Beecher and family go with them” [MTL 2: 14].
On this date the Alta California posted the announcement. Sanborn claims Sam learned of the planned excursion “sometime after mid-February,” but it is likely that Sam would have noticed the wide exposure within a few days [Sanborn 319].
July 1 Monday – Sam and others returned from Tangier to re-board the QC for a 6 PM departure.
July 11 Thursday – Sam and friends left Paris for Marseilles on a morning train.
July 12 Friday – Sam and friends arrived in Marseilles in the morning. Sam wrote from Marseilles to his mother and family.
“Oh, confound it, I can’t write–I am full of excitement—have to make a trip in the harbor—haven’t slept for 24 hours” [MTL 2: 72].
Jackson, Slote, and Sam again stayed at the Grand Hotel du Louvre et de la Paix [72n1].
July 13 Saturday – QC departed Marseilles at noon.
July 14 Sunday – QC arrived at Genoa at 6 AM.
July 15 Monday – Sam wrote from Genoa to his mother and family.
“We sat in a great gas-lit public-grove or garden till 10 last night, where they were crowded together drinking wine & eating ices, & it seems to me that it would be good to die & go there” [MTL 2: 74].
July 16 Tuesday – Sam, Jackson, and Slote left Genoa by train, arriving in Milan that evening. Toward dusk we drew near Milan and caught glimpses of the city and the blue mountain peaks beyond. But we were not caring for these things—they did not interest us in the least. We were in a fever of impatience; we were dying to see the renowned cathedral! We watched—in this direction and that—all around—everywhere. We needed no one to point it out—we did not wish any one to point it out—we would recognize it even in the desert of the great Sahara [IA, Ch. 18].
July 18 Thursday – Sam took a train from Milan to Como, then took a steamer to Bellagio, Italy on Lake Como.
We lunched at the curious old town of Como, at the foot of the lake, and then took the small steamer and had an afternoon’s pleasure excursion to this place,—Bellaggio.
July 19? Friday – Sam made a day-trip to Chiasso in nearby Switzerland. He did not mention the trip in Innocents [Rasmussen 86]. Note: A day-trip seems probable for this date.
July 2 Tuesday – Sam wrote “from sea” to his mother, Jane Clemens and family. “…we are just passing the island of Minorca” [MTL 2: 68]. He wrote part of the letter the next day [70-1n5].
The passengers held a masquerade ball under the awnings of the quarterdeck, dressing in Moorish garb they’d purchased in the bazaars of Tangier. Sam wore a fez for the party and would wear it for a disguise when he stole ashore in Athens and hiked up the Acropolis on Aug.14 and 15 [Hirst & Rowles 29; MTL 1: 68, 70n5].
July 20 Saturday – Sam and friends went by steamer from Bellagio to Lecco; left Lecco by carriage at 1 PM for Bergamo; took a train that passed through Brescia, Verona, Vicenza, and Padua, arriving in Venice at 8 PM.
July 21 Sunday – Alta California printed Sam’s article “THE SEX IN NEW YORK,” which Sam had dated May 26. Camfield lists this as “Letter from Mark Twain” No. 22 [bibliog.].
BLOOD
July 22 Monday – Sam and friends left Venice by train; passed through Bologna and Pistoia overnight.
We were a little fatigued with sight seeing, and so we rattled through a good deal of country by rail without caring to stop. I took few notes. I find no mention of Bologna in my memorandum book, except that we arrived there in good season, but saw none of the sausages for which the place is so justly celebrated. Pistoia awoke but a passing interest [IA Ch. 24].
July 23 Tuesday – Sam and friends arrived in Florence; QC departed Genoa at 7 PM.
July 24 Wednesday – In Leghorn on July 25?, Sam referred to “A visit paid in a friendly way to General Garibaldi yesterday (by cordial invitation) by some of our passengers” [Ch. 24, IA]. Sam was not among these visitors, and he wrote nothing further of Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882), Italian patriot and soldier. The itinerary for the QC excursion had stated, if practical, a visit to the General would be made. (See “The Journal of the Quaker City Captain,” by Charles E. Shain, The New England Quarterly, Vol. 28 No. 3 (Sept.
July 25? Thursday – Sam and friends left Florence on the noon train for Pisa, where they spent two hours. They arrived at Leghorn in the evening and boarded the QC.
At Pisa we climbed up to the top of the strangest structure the world has any knowledge of—the Leaning Tower.…this one leans more than thirteen feet out of the perpendicular. It is seven hundred years old, but neither history or tradition say whether it was built as it is, purposely, or whether one of its sides has settled. There is no record that it ever stood straight up….
July 26? Friday – Sam and friends avoided being quarantined on the QC at Naples by taking a French steamer to Civitavecchia, Italy, then a train to Rome.
July 27 Saturday – Sam and friends arrived in Rome.
July 28 Sunday – Alta California printed Sam’s article “ACADEMY OF DESIGN,” which Sam had dated May 28. Camfield lists this as “Letter from Mark Twain” No. 23 [bibliog.].
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