Clemens Family Relocates to Europe: Day By Day

March 27 Wednesday – In New York at the Rogers home, a few minutes before leaving to board the S.S. Paris, Sam wrote a paragraph to Franklin G. Whitmore after receiving Whitmore’s letter, not extant, date uncertain.

March 28 Monday – In Rome, Sam cabled Henry C. Robinson, his old Hartford attorney and billiards friend.

Accept the offer provided one half of Paige & Hammersley’s interests in the company be added to it. Otherwise decline [MTP; also in NB 31 TS 34].

March 28 Tuesday – Sam was en route on the Kaiser Wilhelm II to New York. Sam’s notebook:

Tuesday, Mch 28. The usual brilliant sunshine, the usual soft summer weather. Sea polished & nearly flat — almost a dead calm. We have never had a sea that disturbed the dishes on the table to speak of [NB 33 TS 4-5].

March 28 Thursday – Sam was en route on the S.S. Paris for Havre, France.

March 29 Tuesday – In Rome, Sam cabled a one-liner to Henry C. Robinson’s Mar. 28 cable:

No, it is the only hold I have on P[aige] [MTP; also NB 31 TS 34].

Sam’s notebook:

Hotel Molaro. Capole Casi.

March 29 Wednesday – Sam’s notebook on board the Kaiser Wilhelm II:

Wednes. 29. Nice ball on deck, with colored electric lights. I opened it with Capt. Störmer — waltz, with overcoat. Danced the Virginia reel, with Longfellow for a partner [NB 33 TS 5].

March 29 Thursday – Bainbridge Colby for Stern & Rushmore Attys. wrote acknowledging receipt of Sam’s Mar. 19 letter, and that he’d been expecting the original assignment document “of your various property interests to your wife,” and if it did not come soon, he would cable a reminder [MTP].

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].

March 3 Friday – Andrew Chatto inscribed a copy of John O’Hagan’s Joan of Arc (1893) to Sam: Laid at the feet of / Mark Twain / by Andrew Chatto / Mar 3 ’93 [Gribben 514].

March 3 Saturday – In his first Mar. 2 letter to Livy, Sam outlined this day as “full.”

March 30 Thursday – Sam was en route on the Kaiser Wilhelm II to New York. Sam’s notebook: “Smooth till midnight, then rough.” Sam also noted costs of music, stewards, smoking, and boots (polished) [NB 33 TS 5].

March 30 Friday – At the Brighton Hotel in Paris France Sam wrote to Henry H. Rogers. A cablegram had not yet come about the arrival of Rogers’ daughters, Mrs. Cara Rogers Duff and May Rogers. Jean Clemens had suffered a scalding accident on her leg. Sam had his ticket to sail on Apr. 7, again on the SS New York. Sam also wrote he had seen George Franklin Southard and James G.

March 31 Thursday – In Rome, Italy on this day or the next Sam put a memo in his notebook: “Get Roba di Roma,” which referred to William Wetmore Story’s two-volume Roba di Roma (1863) [Gribben 669; NB 31, TS 35].

March 31 Friday – Sam was en route on the Kaiser Wilhelm II to New York. Sam’s notebook:

Good Friday, 31st. Exceedingly rough — a deal of rain. A very steady ship, but of course this sort of a sea makes her roll heavily — as it would any ship [NB 33 TS 5].

March 31 Saturday – In Paris Sam wrote a brief note to Frederick J. Hall, asking him to gather an unbound P&P for Lord Dufferin, the British Ambassador. Dufferin wished to bind the book himself. Hall was to remind Sam when he came, so he could write on the fly-leap and tell him how to direct the package [MTP]. Note: Lord Dufferin was Frederick Temple Blackwood (1826-1902), diplomat and author.

March 31 Sunday – Sam was en route on the S.S. Paris for Havre, France.

March 4 Friday – The Clemenses arrived in the resort town of Menton, France [Livy to Trumbull Mar 5].

March 4 Saturday – Sam’s notebook in Florence:

Settignano, March 4, ’93, 9.30 p.m. Mr. Cleveland has been President, now, two or three hours, no doubt [NB 33 TS 1].

The Brooklyn Eagle, p.4 Mar. 5, 1893, ran a list of German news items under “The German Army Bill” with this dateline, Berlin. At the end of the article these tidbits appeared:

March 4 Sunday – In New York after 1 a.m., Sam was at the Aldine Club for Story Tellers’ Night. He may have told the “Bluejay” yarn again, as mentioned in his Mar. 2 letter. Sam had a very late night, arriving at this function after 1 a.m.

March 4 Monday – Lloyd S. Bryce, editor of the North American Review, wrote to Sam, the letter not extant but mentioned in Sam’s Mar. 9 to Bryce.

March 5 Saturday – The Illustrated London News ran a second segment of “An Austrian Health-Factory.” Other segments ran on Feb. 20, and Mar. 12, 1892 [Willson list, Univ. of Texas at Austin].

In Menton, Sam wrote to Dr. Edward K. Root of Hartford. The first paragraph is in German and mentions Annie Trumbull, then he wrote:

But I am out of German. It left me (the remaining ragged fragments of it) when I crossed the frontier a day or two ago.

March 5 Sunday – Susy Clemens’ letter to Louise Brownell written from Frenzensbad, Italy, was postmarked this day and is all melodramatic over-the-top mush. No family events or activities are mentioned [Cotton 101201].

March 5 Monday – In New York on Players Club stationery, Sam wrote a short note to H.H. Rogers, that Bram Stoker had paid the first installment of $100 on 20 shares of the new Paige Compositor Co.; he’d forgot to receipt Stoker; Also Henry Irving had paid his $500 in full and was receipted [MTP].

March 5 Tuesday – From H.H. Rogers’ abode at 26 E. 57th in New York, Sam wrote to Frank Fuller.

I am in America for a few days. Part of my errand is to arrange for my new book [JA], which is now finished. Another part of it is to consider a uniform edition of my books.

Can you come down now? If so, the car that passes the Grand Central Station will bring you to the above dwelling house.

March 6 Sunday – “The Cradle of Liberty” ran as “Mark Twain in the Cradle of Liberty” in the Chicago Tribune, and other McClure Syndicate newspapers. It was reprinted on Mar. 13 in the N.Y. Sun, and with changes included in What is Man? And Other Essays (1917) [Budd, Collected 2: 1000]. A Shorter version ran in the Boston Daily Globe, p.17 under the title, “GAVE A MOUNTAIN A JOB.”