Joe Twichell wrote to Sam.
I have been thinking of you all the morning. This is one of those golden, perfect autumn days when ones desire to off somewhere among trees, mounts to a passion… Now, Mark, let’s make a vow, that when we are once more together we will use these heavenly days as they were meant to be used and as we shall wish we had when we come to look back on life [MTP]. Note: there is much more and more depth to this letter, but space here does not allow it all.
Sam’s notebook:
In Santa Croce to-day a well dressed young woman followed us, begging for centimes.
An old frowsy woman watched where I laid my cigar, then approached us with it as Chamberlain & I came out & said she rescued it from some boys (who had found it in the dark!) & wantd 5 cents for her trouble. She followed us into the street & finally cursed us & called down sudden death upon us [MTNJ 2: 229].
Sam wrote to Valentine Besarel, letter not extant but mentioned in Besarel’s Oct. 27.
Sam’s notebook:
Uffizzi Gallery, Sunday (free day,)
What a shamed look people have who go along with a guide—they nod annoyedly at every statement he makes, & they scarcely look at the object he points at; often not at all; neither look they to one side or the other, or at anybody; they seem to have but one desire: to get through with this painful trial & go free again [MTNJ 2: 234].
The Clemens family left Florence for Rome. The trip took 8 hours and they arrived at 4:30 PM [MTNJ 2: 235]. The party stayed at the Hotel d’Allemania. Sam noted the cost of the rooms, three coffees, one beefsteak and three “table d’hotes” (communal table, full-course meal) totaling 48.25 francs, paid at 5 PM [281].
In his notebook, Sam concluded that the “Immaculate Conception has ceased to be a wearying & worrisome question.” What the Ecumenical Council should “decide once & forever” was, “who was it that struck Billy Patterson?” (From Wm. Porter’s collection, The Big Bear of Arkansas and Other Sketches) [MTNJ 2: 235]. More from Sam’s notebook:
It is the more ridiculous spectacle to see a Virgin or a copper Aristotle stuck on top of every stately monument of the grand old “pagan” days of Rome.
Sam visited the Sistine Chapel, commenting on work by Raphael. He counted 25 courtyards in the Vatican. He noted the Tom of the Virgin and wrote “How she would draw in N.Y.” [MTNJ 2: 237].
Gustavo Sarfatti wrote to Sam (Sept. 29 from Sarfatti enclosed) [MTP].
Sam received letters from Will Sage and Joe Twichell about payments required and red tape needed to get the “two boxes of Clocks” through customs. He made a note to do a chapter in his book about “this most scoundrelly & infernal custom house system” [MTNJ 2: 237].
Sam’s notebook:
Sam’s notebook:
Great Council Chamber, Ducal Palace. Immediately at right of the door as you enter, in the big picture over the book shelves, is a fisherman in the foreground in a green dress holding one basket of fish against his body & resting another basket of fish on a woman’s head. This Fisherman has but one leg—but that is not the singularity, but the fact that it is the port leg, attached to the starboard side of his body [MTNJ 2: 199- 200]. Note: Sam evaluated several other paintings in like manner.
Sam’s notebook: “Began with Dittura [Agostino] Oct 8 by the day at 5 f a day & 50 pour-boir—we have to have him day & evening both” [MTNJ 2: 205] Agostino was the second gondolier employed by the Clemens family [205n89].
George Burk wrote from Venice, Italy asking for additional severance pay of 175 francs and sending his address [MTP; MTNJ 2: 208].
Sam wrote from Venice, Italy to J. Langdon & Co. Only the envelope survives [MTLE 3: 93].
Sam included descriptions of a “swell big gondola” and a funeral procession in his notebook [MTNJ 2: 204].
Sam was awakened at 3 AM by a braying jackass in front of the hotel. The party left Geneva for Italy, stopping at Chambéry, France for a break. More from his notebook:
The Clemens family left Chambéry for Turin by the fast express train, which Sam noted “makes 4 miles an hour—the other trains make only 3 1/4 . By 11 we were out of sight of Chambery.” Three hours from Turin, the train barely won a race with a team of oxen, Sam wrote [MTNJ 2:185]. It took eight more hours to arrive in Turin, at about 7 PM. They took rooms in the Hotel d’Europe, which Sam noted had “wonderful rooms” [186]. They went to supper and drank Barolo wine.
The family spent the day in Turin, shopping and enjoying the sights [MTLE 3: 101].
The family left Turin at 9:15 AM and arrived at Milan at 1:30 PM [MTNJ 2: 188]. Sam’s notebook is full of things they saw in Milan, and observations on a host of items and situations.
Some favorites:
I think the arcade system is borrowed from Turin.
Saw a starchy suit of clothes marked $9—doorway full of dummies dressed—stepped in to order one like the $9—nothing inside! The old man hauled in the dummy, stripped him & I ordered the clothes sent to the hotel.
The Clemens party spent the day looking around Milan. They would spend five days in the city.
Sam (and probably the ladies) went to see Da Vinci’s “Last Supper” in the refectory of the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. “If there is anything worse than the original, it is the 15 or 20 copies in oil & water” [MTNJ 2: 190]. They also visited the “great picture gallery” (Brera).
“There are artists in Arkansas to-day who would not have had to paint signs for a living if they had had the luck to live in the time of the old masters” [191].
Sam’s notebook:
The Italians all seem to go to work before daylight—& all in couples, singing tenor & bass or alto duet—all got strong voices & many good ones—don’t sing simple airs but starchy opera stuff—they wake you up and keep you awake.
The Milan clocks are not useful. This morning one struck 2, another 3, another 1, another 2, two others 3—all this occupied 10 minutes—so I got up & looked at my watch—correct time 4.15. 15 minutes later, the procession of striking began again.
The Clemens party left Milan and traveled north to Bellagio on Lake Como [MTNJ 2: 156]. They stayed at the Grand Bretagne Hotel. Sam’s notebook:
“Rainy, sour, cold, dreary. Removed a screen in our room & discovered a regular fire-place—for wood. Right away we had the first wood fire we had seen since we left our own house. This made the day cheery” [2: 193].
Also noted was praise for Karl Baedeker’s (1801-1859) Italy, Handbook for Travellers: “curious & useful details” about Lake Como [2: 193]
The Clemens party left Bellagio at 10 AM. They met G.K. Mayer and wife [MTNJ 2: 159n6] who helped them take the lake boat down to Lecco, Italy, where they boarded the train. They suffered another ten-hour trip and arrived at Venice at 7:30 PM. [Rodney 112; MTNJ 2: 194]. The family had looked forward to Venice as a “relaxing interlude in their long journey.” Livy’s itinerary called for a three-week stay [Rodney 112].
Sam’s notebook this day in Venice.
These Italian thieves have charged me $8 duty on $4 worth (100) of cigars & $1 worth of tobacco–
I must stop smoking, for no right Christian can smoke an Italian cigar. Only the wrappers are grown—the insides are of stubs collected on the pavements by the younger sons of the nobility—stubs from Switzerland —bad enough.
The charming singing of the men at night in Venice.
Sam wrote from Venice, Italy to William Dean Howells. Since his tirade letter about Bret Harte, Sam had not heard from Howells, who had recommended to President Hayes that Harte be given a chance. Wisely, Howells had not told Sam of his recommendation or answered Sam’s venom, and Sam had noticed.
Livy wrote from Venice to her mother about the city:
“It is so fascinating, so thoroughly charming—I sit now before a window that opens on to a little piazza; where I can look right on to the Grand Canal…We have the morning sun in our rooms and the weather for three days has been perfect” [MTNJ 2: 157].
William Gedney Bunce (1840-1916) visited again. From Livy’s pen: “…calls again last night [Monday] until nearly eleven” [Salsbury 85].
September 15 Sunday Sam’s notebook: