Clemens Family Relocates to Europe: Day By Day

May – In Paris before May 12, Sam inscribed a copy of P&P to F.S. Reynolds: To / Mr. F.S. Reynolds / with the compliments of / The Author. / Truth is the most valuable thing we have. Let us economise it. / Truly Yours / Mark Twain / Paris, May/95 [MTP].

May 19 Thursday – Tillotson & Son wrote to Sam [Reference card only at MTP].

May 19 Friday – Sam was en route to Genoa on the Kaiser Wilhelm II. Based on an account of the voyage by H. W. Mead to the editor of the Brooklyn Eagle, June 25, 1893 p.6, “Brooklyn People in Lucerne,” “On the sixth day we came to and passed the Azores, with two of the islands in sight.” The article relates some of the entertainment on the voyage, including a contribution by Mark Twain:

May 19 Saturday – Sam left London and traveled to Paris, where he joined his family at the Hotel Brighton.

Saturday Review (London) LXXVII, p.535-6 printed a brief summary of Tom Sawyer Abroad, with a few critical remarks, calling the humor “genuine and characteristic, but it is thin.” The Review condemned the ending: “anything more flat and unprofitable or more shabby to the reader was never devised” [Tenney 22].

May 2 Monday, after † – From Florence, Sam wrote two notes to Miss Page, the first thanking her for her “seasick remedy” which he felt the family would benefit from since he was never seasick, and announcing he would be at Mrs. Carolyn S. Fahnstock’s “with a sample of the family.” The second note informs Miss Page that Livy had already made an engagement for the family for the following day. Sam suggested a later day. “Would 4 p.m. Monday do? — or 3.30?” [MTP].

May 2 Tuesday – In the morning Sam left New York and traveled to Elmira, a nine or ten hour trip. He stayed at Susan Crane’s Quarry Hill home.

May 2 Wednesday – Sam was in Elmira at least part of the day and returned to New York in time for a business meeting the following day. He had,

…a glimpse of the folks, including the Stanchfields. Sue [Crane] reminded me of the lace & I sent it to her as soon as I got back. I had a sort of notion to run up to Hartford for an hour, but I don’t get the chance. [May 4 to Livy]. Note: Clara Spaulding married John Stanchfield.

May 2 Thursday – In Paris, the Clemenses may have attended a play in the evening, the “Mr Mapes’s play” referred to in his May 1 to Miss Goodridge. Several other letters in this period do not reveal the answer. Mr. Mapes may have been related to Mary Mapes Dodge.

At the Hotel Brighton, Sam also wrote to Poultney Bigelow, who evidently upon learning of the failure of Webster & Co., had sent a check for a thousand dollars. Sam couldn’t keep it:

May 20 Friday – In Venice, Italy Livy wrote to Grace King concerning the family’s change in plans for the next winter:

We have given up Paris and have taken a villa in Florence for next winter. Mr Clemens had a great dread of Paris and even a suburb did not attract him. We found the singing advantages would probably be good for Susy and so decided rather suddenly to take up a villa a little way out of town [Rodney 144].

May 20 Saturday – Sam was en route to Genoa on the Kaiser Wilhelm II.

May 20 Sunday – Sam and Livy examined a cottage in Etretat, France and rented it for the summer [May 22 to Rogers].

May 21 Saturday – Sam’s notebook in Venice, dated May 22:

Tried to make the Johnsons, Browns, Sarah Orne Jewett, Mrs. James T. Fields, Mr. Washington understand (with Clara’s help) the old puzzle of Whitmore taking me around the loop in his buggy. Of course they all laughed at my stupidity at first, but this is just a “$100-bill & pair of boots” puzzle before they get done with it.

May 21 Sunday – Sam was en route to Genoa on the Kaiser Wilhelm II. Sam’s notebook:

Sunday, May 21. Eight days out. Shall reach Gibraltar Tuesday morning & Genoa Thursday night. / Day after day of “considerable” swell, but the ship moves on a level keel, unaffected by it. Apples lie on my table in my room day & night undisturbed. It is a wonderful ship in this regard [NB 33 TS 12].

May 21 Monday – Abbie Gifford Rogers, wife of H.H. Rogers, died. Sam wrote of her last days on July 17 to Livy. He would get the news on May 31. Dias writes,

“On May 21, 1894, Rogers’ wife, Abbie, died after undergoing surgery in New York. She had for days been suffering intolerable pain (from an unsuspected tumor). Consequently, she submitted gladly to the operation. After the surgery, however, she began to sink and never rallied” [MT Letters to Rogers Family 14].

May 22 Sunday – In Venice Sam wrote to Frederick J. Hall having received his May 9 letter (not extant), which Sam wrote, “sounds very good.” Sam wanted Mr. Halsey of Wall Street to invest the funds using “his own best judgment”; Sam didn’t want to “meddle.” He cited Susan Crane’s agreement on the matter, which suggests she knew and respected Halsey. Sam also forecasted his return on business matters:

May 22 Monday – Sam was en route to Genoa on the Kaiser Wilhelm II.

May 22 Tuesday – In Paris at the Hotel Brighton Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers. He told about trying to chase down Rogers’ two daughters, Mrs. Duff and Miss May, who had gone to Switzerland. He wrote about his two-day stopover in London and his offer from Mary Anderson’s agent to speak ten nights for two thousand pounds. Then he related the family’s plans and his forecasted return:

May 23 Tuesday – En route from New York to Genoa, Italy on the Kaiser Wilhelm II, Sam wrote a short note to Chatto & Windus, asking them to send a volume of his sketches containing The Jumping Frog to Captain Störmer of the Kaiser Wilhelm II, in care of Leupold Fratelli, Genoa, and charge it to his account [MTP].

Sam’s notebook:

Reached Gibraltar Tuesday at dawn. I did not go ashore. We sailed again at 8 o’clock [NB 33 TS 11].

May 24 Tuesday – Charles D. Taylor wrote from Kingston, R.I. to Sam: “Although a stranger to you, I venture to enclose to you a farce I have written entitled “Ye Old Militia Muster.” Taylor thought Sam might handle the subject with humorous treatment better [MTP].

M.E. Waring for Atlantic Lyceum Bureau in Baltimore wrote to Sam seeking his lecture for one night in a winter series course of lectures for the benefit of “a prominent church” [MTP].

May 24 Wednesday – Sam was en route to Genoa on the Kaiser Wilhelm II. Sam’s notebook:

Wednesday, May 24. Sailing along the Balearic Isles this forenoon. Due at Genoa tomorrow night. A perfectly smooth voyage, but unspeakably tedious. I am older by ten years than I was when I left New York. That fact is, the voyage is too smooth [NB 33 TS 13].

May 24 Thursday – Frederick Blackwood (1st Marquis of Dufferin) wrote to Sam at the Hotel Brighton:

My dear Mr. Clemens / How very kind of you to have remembered my request. I am indeed most grateful especially for the charming autograph inscription which the book contains. Very shortly we are having a garden party, and I hope you will still be in Paris when it takes place.” Sam wrote on the envelope, “Lord Dufferin” [MTP].

May 25 Wednesday – Before leaving Venice, Sam wrote to Mrs. Katherine C. Bronson.

Dear Mrs. Bronson:

You are wonderfully good — too good for here below. I thank you ever so much for those books, — which I shall treasure for your sake as well as their own — & I was hoping to see you & say all this with my mouth, & add the good-byes of Mrs. Clemens & me; & I took my daughters along, too, to exhibit them to you; but you were out philandering around & we missed you [MTP].

May 25 Thursday– Sam reached Genoa on the Kaiser Wilhelm II. His notebook gives 7 p.m. as the time of arrival [NB 33 TS 13]. Note: He spent the night in Genoa as he did when going to the US.

May 25 Friday – In Paris Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers, wondering if the two Rogers girls had gone home, because there was no sign of them and they were not at the Hotel Victoria in London. He repeated that he would take the family to Aix-les-Bains toward the end of June, then sail back from Southampton. If by chance the newest Paige typesetter was completed, would Rogers please cable him in care of Drexel, Paris.

May 26 Thursday – The Clemens party was in transit to Lake Como and Cadenabbia.