Clemens Family Relocates to Europe: Day By Day

January 4 Thursday – In New York at the Players Club, Sam’s wakeup call came at 8:30 a.m. He was “rested & vigorous,” and “spent the day walking the sidewalk out in front taking the brisk air & keeping watch for messengers.” He wrote all this and much more in another long letter to Livy. He opened with a paragraph referencing, “The Tale of the Dime-Store Maiden” he’d sent on Dec.

January 5 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook on their second night in Ilsenburg:

January 5 Friday – The New York Times of Jan. 6, p.9 “Notes of the Courts” reported an old lawsuit against Sam was dropped:

The suit brought by Edward House to prevent Samuel L. Clemens, (“Mark Twain,”) Abby Sage Richardson, and Daniel Frohman from producing “The Prince and the Pauper” without consent of the plaintiff, was dismissed by Justice Bischoff in the Special Term of the Court of Common Pleas yesterday.

Note: See May 7, 1890 and other entries concerning House’s lawsuit.

January 5 Saturday – French officer Alfred Dreyfus was stripped of his army rank and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil’s Island. Sam would take an active interest in the Dreyfus Affair in Vienna in 1897-8.

January 6 Wednesday – In Ilsenburg, Germany Sam wrote to Frederick J. Hall. He enclosed a $100 check to be endorsed over to Mr. Halsey on Wall Street, an investment for Livy.

Mrs. Clemens & I are staying here for a few days in the Hartz Mountains. We return Jan. 12 to Berlin. Address me hereafter / Hotel Royal Berlin.

I lecture in Berlin Jan. 13 — may possibly return here, but my address will remain as above.

Happy New Year! [MTLTP 301].

January 6 Saturday – In New York Sam wrote two notes to Frederick J. Hall. In the first:

I think I will go to Elmira tomorrow and distribute some stock to people who are anxious to get it. I expect to get back Monday night. If I don’t & the bank is stubborn, go to Mr. Rogers…

[Note: MTLTP 361n1: “Perhaps to Susan Crane, who had offered MT $5,000 in stocks and bonds the preceding fall”; See LLMT, p.270.]

January 7 Thursday – The Clemenses rested at Ilsenburg in the Hartz Mountains, enjoying fresh air. In those days it was thought that a change of air or location in itself was healthful.

Frederick J. Hall wrote to Sam (not extant). See Jan. 25 for Sam’s response, labeled as an answer to Halls’ of this date.

January 7 Sunday – Sam left in the a.m. for Elmira, a nine or ten hour train trip [Jan. 6 to Hall].

January 7 Monday – At 169 rue de l’Université in Paris Sam wrote to Chatto & Windus, enclosing a Dec. 26 letter from Frank Hall Scott (1848-1912), president of The Century Co. The letter inquired about a Mr. F. Fauveau translating The £1,000,000 Bank-Note and Other New Stories to French. Sam responded:

All authorities of this sort in your hands, thank goodness!

January 8 Friday – The Clemenses rested at Ilsenburg in the Hartz Mountains. Sam’s Europe letter, “Playing Courier,” ran in the N.Y. Sun and possibly other McClure Syndicate newspapers.

January 8 Monday – Sam was in Elmira to give stock to those who had surrendered royalties — besides Sue Crane and Charles Langdon, Matthias Hollenback Arnot held 50 royalties. Sam’s return to New York late this evening would have given him only a few hours on two days for his business.

January 8 Tuesday – At 169 rue de l’Université in Paris, Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers about being frustrated by Franklin Whitmore not sending monthly itemized accounts as requested, and not saying a word “until his exchequer has run dry.” He’d just received Whitmore’s letter through Bainbridge Colby, with an accounting covering nine months of Hartford expenses. Sam noted he’d just written Whitmore and advised him that the current royalty check from the American Publishing Co.

January 9 Saturday – The Clemenses rested at Ilsenburg in the Hartz Mountains, where Sam wrote to Annie E. Trumbull. Part of the letter is in German. This part isn’t:

Mrs. Clemens & I have been taking a rest for the past week in this little village, in the parsonage, & last night the pastor & his wife introduced these games. I hasten to Theilen them mit you….We return to Berlin to-morrow to look at the fambly (they are at the Hotel Royal with Mrs. Crane,) but I think we’ll come back here [MTP].

January 9 Monday – In Florence, Sam answered a “very charming letter” (not extant) from daughter Clara. He wanted to forward her letter to Ned Bunce, as he was sure he would enjoy it.

January 9 Tuesday – Sam was back in New York, and his rooms at The Players Club.

January 9 Wednesday – The New York Times, rarely complimentary to Mark Twain, ran an editorial, p.4. with no title:

July 1 Wednesday – In Aix-les-Bains, Sam had a conversation with the doctor about the rash that was tormenting nearly everyone but Sam. See July 3 entry.

July 1 Friday – In Hartford Sam wrote on the Law Offices stationery of Henry C. Robinson to Marshall Mallory.

I concluded I would not visit Paige. I am about to sail tomorrow for Germany & when I get there I will cable Mr. Robinson whether to take up the matter of the option again or not, upon the terms proposed last March …. M.H. Mallory / Why not take half — / Mrs. C. would consent to that. [MTP].

July 1 Saturday – Dateline July 1, Berlin: a long article of German news in the Brooklyn Eagle, p.12, “In the Kaiser’s Realm,” mentioned Sam’s presence in the city.

Mr. Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain) is in this city. He will take his daughter [Clara] to Munich, where his family is staying. He and his daughter are the guests of Secretary Jackson of the American embassy.

Sam returned this same day with daughter Clara [July 3 to Whitmore].

July 10 Friday – In Aix-les-Bains Sam wrote to Frederick J. Hall. Sam added vertically to the top margin of the letter that he would “be present at eight or ten Wagner operas at” Bayreuth, Germany from July 31 to Aug. 12. Sam wanted Hall to see Robert Underwood Johnson or Richard Watson Gilder of Century Magazine to see if they’d pay $1,000 as Samuel S.

July 10 Sunday – Sam was en route to Bremen, Germany on the S.S. Lahn. Sam’s notebook:

July 10 Monday – Sam added a PS to his July 9 letter to Susan Crane about going to the opera with daughter Clara the night before:

Certainly nothing in the world is so solemn & impressive, & so divinely beautiful as Tannhäuser. It ought to be used as a religious service [MTP].

July 10 Tuesday – Sam was en route from Southampton to New York on the S.S. Paris.

July 11 Saturday – The Illustrated American ran a full-page portrait of Mark Twain, printed in sepia ink from halftone of a crayon sketch by Arthur Jule Goodman [The Twainian 2.8 (Nov.1940) p.4].

A.W. McArthur wrote from N.Y. to Sam asking to use his portrait in a literary game [MTP].

July 11 Wednesday – Sam was en route from Southampton to New York on the S.S. Paris.