April 22 Sunday – In New York at the Players Club Sam wrote to Livy. There was hope the company could resume business since the creditors initially seemed friendly. Sam blamed Fred Hall’s “stupid & extravagant mismanagement” as well as J.M. Shoemaker’s “fooling around so long” for the assignment. Still, he took the bright side of things, as he was usually disposed to do. He wanted to revoke Shoemaker’s privilege to sell his Paige Compositor Co.
April 23 Monday – In New York, Sam wrote Orion Clemens about the assignment of Webster & Co.
April 25 Wednesday – In New York on Players Club letterhead, Sam wrote to Livy, still putting a happy face on the business failure:
April 26 Thursday – Sam dined with Dr. and Mrs. Clarence Rice, then went to the theater [Apr. 25 to Livy]. Meanwhile, in Paris, Livy wrote to Sam:
On Sunday I saw by the paper that on Monday there would be a representation of “Carmen” at greatly reduced rates. I thought that was a good time for Susy and me to go [Gribben 72].
April 27 Friday – In Paris, Livy finished her Apr. 26 letter to Sam. She mentioned Parisian Points of View by Ludovic Halévy, translated by Edith Virginia Brander Matthews:
April 30 Monday – In New York on Players Club stationery, Sam wrote to Grace King about Madame Blanc taking offense at his article, “Private History of the ‘Jumping Frog’ Story” in April’s North American Review. See April entry.
Oh, it isn’t a bit of use. I have not offended; it is Mme B.’s French obtuseness which is to blame. She owes herself an apology. …
May – The sixth of seven parts from PW ran in the January issue of Century Magazine.
May 1 Tuesday – In New York at the Players Club, Sam wrote to Frank E. Bliss in Hartford, asking him to come down “next Monday” (May 7) to possibly enter into an agreement for publishing PW “by subscription & do some planning & talking about the Uniform Edition” [MTP]. Note: William Evarts Benjamin was involved in a proposed Uniform Edition.
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 3 Thursday – In the afternoon in New York, Sam and his attorneys met with President William H. Payne of the Mt. Morris Bank and his attorney, Daniel Whitford, who had also been attorney for Webster & Co.
May 4 Friday – In New York Sam wrote to Livy about his quick trip to Elmira (May 1-2), and the conference with Mt. Morris Bank’s Payne and attorney, Daniel Whitford (May 3). Sam said they owed the bank $29,500 but felt “a good half of it is bogus paper.”
May 7 Monday – In his May 8 to Rogers, Sam wrote of this evening:
I invited myself out to dinner last night [May 7], & I’ve got the brooch & a letter for Mrs. Duff. I invited Rice to come out & play billiards, & no doubt he would have come if he hasn’t said he would. However, I took it out of Harry [Rogers’ son] & we didn’t need the doctor [MTP].
May 8 Tuesday – In New York at noon Sam wrote to Henry H. Rogers, who was on a trip to W. Virginia. Sam headed the letter with Rogers’ office address:
Enjoy your trip; be perfectly tranquil concerning this office. Miss Harrison & I are running its affairs in the most admirable way. I am going up, presently, to eat your luncheon for you, for you need to keep well nourished when on a long trip, & I don’t think much of the West Virginian cuisine.
May 9 Wednesday – Sam sailed again for Southampton, England in the S.S. New York [Brooklyn Eagle, p.4 “Personal Mention”; MTHHR 24]. Sometime during the voyage, which ended on May 16, Sam wrote a thank you note to an unidentified person:
Thank you cordially for your superb performance. / Sincerely Yours / Mark Twain / At Sea, May/94 [MTP].
May 10 Thursday – Sam was en route on the S.S. New York for Southampton, London and Paris.
The New York Times, p.9 ran an update on the Webster & Co. assignment:
CHARLES L. WEBSTER & CO.’S AFFAIRS.
— — —
The Liabilities Placed at About $80,000 —
“Mark Twain” Sails for Europe.
May 11 Friday – Sam was en route on the S.S. New York for Southampton, London and Paris. In his May 16 to Livy he wrote:
It seems an age since I left New York; & yet I have been at work a large part of the time, & work obliterates time more effectively than anything except sleep [MTP].
May 12 Saturday – Sam was en route on the S.S. New York for Southampton, London and Paris and spent a “large part of the time” writing “Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offenses,” and possibly other pieces.
May 13 Sunday – Sam was en route on the S.S. New York for Southampton, London and Paris and spent a “large part of the time” writing “Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offenses,” and possibly other pieces.
May 14 Monday – Sam was en route on the S.S. New York for Southampton, London and Paris and spent a “large part of the time” writing “Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offenses,” and possibly other pieces. A large meteor shower was visible in France.
May 15 Tuesday – Sam was en route on the S.S. New York for Southampton, London and Paris and spent a “large part of the time” writing “Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offenses,” and possibly other pieces.
May 16 Wednesday – Sam was en route on the S.S. New York for Southampton, London and Paris. He wrote to Livy.
Livy darling, I shall reach London this evening, no doubt; & then I shall seem very close to you & those others. It makes me joyful; & pretty impatient, too. The voyage makes a long, long interval, & conspicuously blank one, on account of the absence of letters from you. …
May 17 Thursday – In London Mark Twain gave the speech of the evening at a dinner by Poultney Bigelow for the officers of the US cruiser Chicago. The N.Y. Times, p.5 “Her Troops” reported the dinner and Sam’s speech but did not report its content.
Dr. Halstead Boyland wrote to Sam, inviting him and Livy for dinner on May 26 [MTP].
May 18 Friday – Sam spent two days in London. Mary Anderson’s agent offered him £2,000 to lecture ten nights in London, but he declined because the season was over in three weeks and there’d be no time to advertise. He promised to consider a fall or winter engagement including a few two-night stands in other cities. He tried to locate Rogers’ daughters at the Brown Hotel, Mrs. Cara Rogers Duff and May Rogers, in order to deliver a letter sent them by Mrs.
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 20 Sunday – Sam and Livy examined a cottage in Etretat, France and rented it for the summer [May 22 to Rogers].