Clemens Family Relocates to Europe: Day By Day

November 9 Friday – Sam was down with the “grippe” at the Brighton Hotel in Paris, “not the slightest use to Mrs. Clemens,” who was “raiding around everywhere for servants…” [Nov. 11 to Rogers].

October 1 Thursday – In Nimes, France at the Hotel Manivet, Sam wrote to Joe Twichell. Paine muses:

“It had been a long time since Clemens had written to his old friend Twichell, but the Rhone trip must have reminded him of those days thirteen years earlier, when, comparatively young men, he and Twichell were tramping through the Black Forest and scaling Gemmi Pass. He sent Twichell a reminder of that happy time” [MTLP 2: 558; Sept 29 to Clara Clemens].  

Dear Joe:

October 1 Saturday – B.A. Atkinson & Co., Boston, wrote to Sam offering to sell “the most novel and magnificent Railroad Palace Car which has ever been placed before the public” [MTP].

October 1 Sunday – As evidenced by Oct. 3 letters to Clara and Livy, Sam made a quick round trip to Elmira on Oct. 1 and 2. Each way was nine to ten hours by rail, so his visit there was brief. Evidently he changed his mind about his clothes not being suitable, as expressed to Clara on Sept. 30. Sam’s notebook:

Erie Road. Parlor Car Hebrides, Sunday Oct 1 — left Jersey City 10.15 a.m. / Darkey porter with impudent manners [NB 33 TS 33].

October 1 Monday – The Clemens family left Etretat bound for Paris, but after four hours travel, they stopped at the Hotel d’Angleterre in Rouen, France, due to Susy’s fever and congestion of the right lung [Oct. 5 to Rogers].

October 10 Saturday – The Club, “A Journal of Club Live for Men and Women” wrote that they’d be “pleased to have a signed article for the November issue of “THE CLUB” and sent a copy [MTP].

October 10 Wednesday – At the Hotel d’Angleterre in Rouen, France, Sam wrote to Charles H. Webb about the failure of Webster & Co. The letter is obviously a response to an inquiry (not extant) by Webb. Sam included an etched portrait of himself made by Wall (not further identified) and signed by the artist.

October 11 Sunday – The Boston Globe ran “MARK TWAIN — A PEN PICTURE,” an interesting sketch and discussion of Sam’s success.

America’s Richest and Most Famous Author at Home and on the Platform.

Wild and peculiar is Mark Twain.

He has a big head stuck on by a long neck to a pair of round shoulders. He goes on to the lecture platform as if he were half asleep, and he looks as if nature, in putting him together, had, somehow, got the joints mixed.

October 11 Tuesday – In Florence, Sam mailed a MS to C.L. Webster & Co. [MTP]. Note: This was probably the second part of Tom Sawyer Abroad.

October 11 Thursday – At the Hotel d’Angleterre in Rouen, France, Sam wrote to Morse, the US Consul-General:

I thank you very much indeed for the papers, until I can pay you the principal.

Sam reported that Susy’s fever was gone and her congested lung healing; that they should be able to travel in a few days to Paris [MTP].

October 12 Monday – In Berlin at 7 Körnerstrasse, Sam wrote to Rudolf Lindau (1829-1910) of the Foreign Office, answering his invitation (not extant), probably to dine. The only evening Sam had free in the week was Wednesday, but he was entirely free the next week [MTP]. Note: Lindau had studied philology and was also a novelist and short story writer. He was also on the staff of the Revue des Deux Mondes for many years.

October 13 Tuesday – The N.Y. Times reported on the 70th birthday of Rudolf Ludwig Karl Virchow (1821-1902). Virchow is considered the founder of modern pathology; he was also an eminent German anthropologist and politician; his reputation later stained by his hostility against both the use of antiseptics and the idea that bacteria caused disease.

October 13 Thursday – At the Villa Viviani in Florence, Sam wrote to Henry M. Alden of Harper’s.

I am going to send you an article entitled “A Curious Book” if I can finish it to my satisfaction; & if you like it & don’t like my price, won’t you make one yourself, so that I can see how far my arguments fail of being sound?

October 13 Friday – Grace King wrote to Livy about how delightful her visit with her sister last year was, and how the Clemenses were on her mind so much. Much of the letter is illegible [MTP].

October 13 Saturday – At the Hotel d’Angleterre in Rouen, France, Sam wrote to Frank Bliss after receiving his telegram. Bliss was getting ready to publish PW by subscription. Sam didn’t want a dedication in the book, claiming he’d “discarded the custom,” but pointed out the introduction, which was the opening paragraphs of the “Twins.” He answered questions about PW’s calendar and then advised that the family was “stalled” in Rouen for another two or three weeks [MTP].

October 14 Wednesday

October 14 Friday – In Florence Sam wrote a short, three-paragraph note to Clara Clemens in Berlin, directing her to ask William Phelps if she should need help having her trunks delivered. In another letter to A.S. Hogue (Vice-consul) this date, Sam disclosed that two trunks with clothes were lost, though he felt they “must be in Berlin.” He also reported the family’s health to Clara:

October 14 Saturday – In New York, Sam wrote on the back of his Villa Viviani calling card, a note for Franklin G. Whitmore:

P.S. Moreover, that Buffalo firm have not paid me in full for “Adam’s Diary” & I am going to sue for the rest SLC [MTP].

October 15 Thursday – In the evening Sam received a cable from Frederick J. Hall with the good news that the Sherman book difficulties had been resolved [Oct. 16 to Hall]. (See Mar. 10 & 29 entries.)

October 15 Saturday – The Illustrated News of the World (New York issue) ran a second segment of “The German Chicago.” Other segments ran on Oct. 8 and Nov. 5, 1892 [Willson list, Univ. of Texas at Austin].

October 15 Monday – The Dreyfus Affair began when Alfred Dreyfus was arrested for spying;. See Dec. 22 entry. Dolmetsch writes, “References to the Dreyfus affair permeate almost everything Mark Twain wrote in Vienna” (1897-1898) [173].

October 16 Friday – In Berlin at 7 Körnerstrasse, Sam wrote to Chatto & Windus, his English publisher, thanking them for the pen sent, which was too stiff — could they send a more limber one? On Oct. 12 another dramatization of P&P opened, and Sam wished it well:

I hope for Hatton’s sake & his daughter’s & mine — & the public’s — that the play will succeed, & that it will beat the record [MTP]. Note: Joseph Hatton. See Oct. 12.

October 16 Monday – In New York, Sam wrote on Players Club letterhead to daughter Clara. This is an obvious response to Clara’s letter (not extant), which evidently had sought an answer to why gondolas carried a blade on the bow. Sam searched “two cyclopedias & the Century Dictionary, then examined the Astor Library — but all to no purpose.” Sam supplied an answer from Gilder and Johnson of the Century that the blade was a gauge for clearance, but also had become ornamental.

October 16 Tuesday – At the Hotel d’Angleterre in Rouen, France, Sam telegraphed Alice H. Day, long time friend of Livy’s: “Wish you all bon voyage / Clemens” [MTP].

October 17 Saturday – A review of “Mr. [Joseph] Hatton’s adaptation” of P&P ran in the London Athenaeum No. 3338, p.525. The periodical praised the dramatization as,

…a passable piece of stage carpentry. Three of its four acts are shapely and interesting, some of its dialogue is excellent, and its scenes of comedy have distinct charm. [The scenes of violence in the third act] are out of keeping with the rest of the piece [Tenney, supplement #3, American Literary Realism, Autumn 1979 p.183].