June 2 Friday – Sam finished his May 30 to Frederick J. Hall. His $500 monthly draft had not arrived, and it could not now reach them before they left for Germany, but he would draw on Livy’s letter of credit if needed. He acknowledged receipt of $950.
We are skimming along like paupers & a day can embarrass us. …
June 2 Saturday – H.H. Rogers wrote again to Sam, relating a minor dust-up with James W. Paige over signing patents. Paige had delayed signing, arguing he was not quite prepared to take out foreign patents.
June 20 Saturday – The Clemens party left Paris on or about this day for Geneva, Switzerland. Powers puts their stay in Paris as four days [MT A Life 539]. In his July 10 to Robert Underwood Johnson, Sam wrote,
Just as we were leaving Paris we had a glimpse & a handshake of your wife — & it was a very pleasant way to wind up what had been a very pleasant week [MTP]. Note: the Mrs. was Katharine McMahon Johnson (1856-1924).
June 20 Monday – Sam was en route to New York City on the Havel.
June 20 Tuesday – In Trient, Austria Sam wrote to Susan Crane.
Dear aunt Sue, the flies quitted us at the Italian frontier — and unspeakable relief — but the fleas have taken their place, & business goes on at the old stand. They make life a sorry for Livy & Jean.
June 20 Wednesday – Livy attended a French wedding where Clara was a bridesmaid [June 21 to Orion].
June 21 Sunday – The Clemens party without Susy and Clara migrated south to Annecy trying the baths there. The original plans were to spend the rest of the summer in Annecy, some 22 miles from Geneva, at the Haute Savoie [May 20 to Howells].
June 21 Tuesday – Sam was en route to New York City on the Havel. Meanwhile, back in Bad Nauheim, at the Villa August Victoria, Livy wrote to Daniel Willard Fiske, thanking him that “the matter is entirely settled and that we are really to be residents of Florence.”
I suppose Mr. Clemens will reach America by tomorrow. I hope to hear by that time of his safe arrival.
How strange it seems that we have really taken a Villa in Florence and we are all so glad.
June 21 Wednesday – Sam’s notebook reveals the family’s trip from Trient to Innsbruck:.
Wednesday, left [Trient] at 7.20 — church-bells going like mad from 4.30 till 6.30 — came to Innsbruck by Brenner Pass in about 5½ hours, in an observation-car — first class tickets. All glass — that is, 2 sides & one end; 11 sail-cloth uncomfortable chairs — pile of camp-stools in a corner. Very dirty oil-cloth on floor.
June 21 Thursday – Though this is the day Sam had planned to move the family to La Bourboule, France. Things were delayed somewhat, and they did not leave Paris until Saturday, June 23. In Paris Sam wrote to his brother Orion, agreeing that “Ed is right” about an amount he’d offered of $45 per share of the new Paige Compositor Co. No doubt Orion had written of Ed Brownell selling out after the Chicago test, probably to take advantage of its success.
June 22 Monday – The Clemens party was in Annecy trying the baths there.
June 22 Wednesday – Sam arrived in New York City [MTLTP 311n1]. Sometime during his two stops in New York, either now or the first few days of July, Sam met with Mary Mapes Dodge, editor of St. Nicholas, a magazine for children. She offered Sam $5,000 for the serial rights to a 50,000 word story for boys. Sam wrote back and declined the offer (he was formulating Tom Sawyer Abroad), but he didn’t feel the amount was enough [Aug. 10 to Hall].
June 22 Thursday – The Clemens family rested in Innsbruck, Austria. “Delightful Aufenthalt in a delightful hotel” [NB 33 TS 19]. Note: Aufenthalt (Resting Place), Rellstab’s title for the poem Schubert set in August 1828.
June 22 Friday – Alfred P. Burbank died in New York of consumption after an illness of about five years. In 1887 Burbank produced Sam’s The American Claimant at the Lyceum Theatre and played the leading role. His most recent work was two tours with Edgar “Bill” Nye, which he cut short on the Pacific coast due to ill health. Several members of the Lotos Club would serve as pallbearers [NY Times June 23, 1894, p.4].
June 23 Thursday – Sam spent the day with Frederick J. Hall looking over Webster & Co. Sam had written to Hall back on June 11, asking for help to keep away from reporters. The less publicity about his arrival the better. Evidently these efforts were not successful, for the Brooklyn Eagle, Jun. 23, 1892, p.4 under “Personal Mention” included, “Mark Twain has returned from Europe.” The New York Times ran a paragraph of passengers on p.8, “Arrived on the Havel,” which led off with,
June 23 Tuesday – The Clemens party was in Annecy trying the baths there.
June 23 Friday – The Clemens family rested at the Hotel Tirol in Innsbruck, Austria. Frederick J. Hall wrote to Sam that “This has been an exceedingly busy and very hard week but the outlook is better.” In this letter and one on July 7, Hall, on the advice of Charles J. Langdon, shut down sales of LAL and laid off all but a skeleton staff. Hall wrote Langdon on July 11 that these moves had reduced office expenses $1,000 a week.
June 23 Saturday – The Clemens family left Paris and “traveled all day & it was hot” and arrived at La Bourboule, France. On June 25 Sam wrote to Susan Crane about the trip and the fatigue resulting from two-weeks’ trunk-packing.
June 24 Wednesday – The Clemens party was in Annecy trying the baths there.
John Cowden wrote a very long (and rather dry, rambling, hard to read) letter from Pittsfield, Ill. to Sam about the history of the Mississippi area and experiences there [MTP].
June 24 Friday – Sam took the train to Hartford. His letter of June 28 to Orion says he spent “Friday & Saturday in Hartford on business” [MTP].
June 24 Saturday – Sam’s notebook reveals the trip from Innsbruck to Munich:
June 24 Sunday – The President of the Third French Republic, Sadi Carnot (1837-1894) was stabbed by an Italian anarchist, Sante Geronimo Caserio, and died shortly after midnight, June 25. Ironically, Carnot had just implied in a banquet speech that he would not seek reelection. Sam noted the assassination in his June 25 letter to Rogers, as well as one to an unidentified person, so undoubtedly the news quickly reached La Bourboule where the Clemens family was staying.
June 25 Thursday – The Clemens party was in Annecy trying the baths there.
June 25 Saturday – Sam spent the day in Hartford on business, and likely left for Elmira, a nine or ten hour train ride, sometime during the day, since he was there the following day, June 26.
June 25 Sunday – The Clemens family traveled some 62 miles and arrived in Munich, Germany.