DBD: World Tour

October 28 Monday – At the home of John H. Wagner in Malvern Sam wrote to J. Henry Harper:

October 29 Tuesday – Livy and Clara remained in Melbourne. Sam commuted from Geelong to Prahran by train, where he gave his “At Home” lecture in the 1,000 seat Town Hall to a “vast audience,” which “filled the building in every part.” He included his Australian poem (which was received with bursts of laughter) and “Punch Brothers” — a somewhat different program than Oct. 26’s matinee performance. The Prahan Telegraph reviewed the lecture on Nov.

October 3 Thursday – Near Melbourne, Clara Clemens played two piano solos at a tea given by Mrs. S. McCulloch at Toorak. Livy attended. Sam wrote to H. Walter Barrett of Falk’s Photography, asking him to remove photographs of Livy and Clara from his window [Shillingsburg, “Down Under” 12].

October 30 Wednesday – In Melbourne at the Menzies Hotel, the Clemens ladies were busy packing for the voyage to New Zealand. Frederick W. Haddon wrote to Sam inviting him to write an article. This letter is not extant, but is mentioned and responded to on Nov. 14 [Shillingsburg, “Down Under” 20].

October 31 Thursday – In Melbourne, Sam attended the wool-sales for half an hour with John H. Wagner. Sam said, “wool brokers are just like stockbrokers” [Shillingsburg, “Down Under” 20].

Sam’s notebook recorded the visit:

Oct. 31. Melbourne. Went to the wool exchange with John H. Wagner. Selling the “clip” in lots — at 6 & a farthing. When a man has the clip of 100,000 sheep to sell (6 pounds of wool to the sheep) the difference of a farthing makes a big difference — 600,000 farthings.

October 4 Friday – The Clemens party was still at the Menzies Hotel in Melbourne. Sam’s carbuncle problem caused the cancellation of a performance planned for Bendigo’s Masonic Hall. Dr. N.T. Fitzgerald froze, lanced, injected opium, and prescribed plasters for Sam’s carbuncle, which Livy dutifully applied for several weeks. Sam stayed out of the public eye and recovered enough to travel by Oct. 11 [Shillingsburg, “Down Under” 12; At Home 72].

October 5 Saturday – In Melbourne Sam evidently dined with the John H. Wagner’s, including daughter Sue McCulloch. Sam commented on the table décor and also noted another £259.9.6 from R.S. Smythe [NB 35 TS 56].

October 6 Sunday – In Melbourne at the Menzies Hotel, Sam wrote to Miss Buckley:

I am so disappointed. I was fully expecting to be there & have my share of the good times, this afternoon, but I am obliged to lose that pleasure. I have spent the last few days in bed trying to check a very persistent carbuncle — with no success…

[Note: Sam hoped to call on Miss Buckley before leaving Melbourne]. [MTP; Shillingsburg, “Down Under” 13 provides the correct date].

October 7 Monday – In Melbourne at the Menzies Hotel, Sam was still abed. A scheduled performance in Geelong’s Exhibition Theatre was postponed tentatively until Oct. 17, due to Sam’s health. This was done by use of handbills and a telegram from Dr. N.T. Fitzgerald printed in the Evening Star. R.S. Smythe had been in Geelong since Oct. 4 making arrangements [Shillingsburg, “Down Under” 13].

October 8 Tuesday – In Melbourne at the Menzies Hotel, Sam was still laid up. Another cancellation had to be made, this time at Horsham for the Oct. 10 performance. On Oct. 11 it was announced that it was rescheduled for Oct. 17 [Shillingsburg, “Down Under” 13].

October 9 Wednesday – In Melbourne at the Menzies Hotel, Sam’s recorded comments on Sunday laws, horse racing, Australian settlement, the Melbourne Cup Race, and his confinement due to his carbuncle [NB 35]. FE would contain entries about Australian horse-racing and Sabbath-keeping. Dr. N.T. Fitzgerald’s telegram on Sam’s health was published in Adelaide [Shillingsburg, “Down Under” 13].

September 1 Sunday – At sea from Honolulu on the R.M.S. Warrimoo en route to Fiji and Australia. Sam’s notebook reveals they were “lying at anchor till midnight” [NB 35 TS 41].

September 10 Tuesday – Next Day. Sure enough, it has happened. Yesterday it was September 8, Sunday; to-day it is September 10, Tuesday. There is something uncanny about it. And uncomfortable. In fact, nearly unthinkable, and wholly unrealizable, when one comes to consider it [FE Ch. IV p.75].

September 11 Wednesday – Sept. 11. We are moving steadily southward — getting further and further down under the projecting paunch of the globe. Yesterday evening we saw the Big Dipper and the north star sink below the horizon and disappear from our world. No, not “we,” but they. They saw it — somebody saw it — and told me about it. …My interest was all in the Southern Cross. I had never seen that….We saw the Cross to-night, and it is not large. Not large but strikingly bright.

September 13 Friday – At sea on the Warrimoo, Sam’s notebook:

September 14 Saturday – At sea on the Warrimoo, Sam added to his Sept. 13 a letter to H.H. Rogers, that he would finish Sept. 15: “Shuffleboarding is rather violent exercise for me,” and related that he won the best two of three games with another tournament winner, and was dubbed “Champion of the South Seas” [MTHHR 187: See NB 35 TS 49].

September 15 Sunday – At sea on the Warrimoo, Sam finished his Sept. 13-14 letter to H.H. Rogers:

Atlantic seas on to-day — the first we have had. And yet not really rough. Satchels keep their places and do not go browsing around….Clara “fetched away” from the piano stool while playing the hymns at divine service.

September 16 Monday – Sydney was then a city of about 380,000. In Sydney Harbor, after breakfast aboard the Warrimoo and with a reporter for the Sydney Evening News, the Clemens party disembarked and arrived at the Circular Quay, Sydney Harbor, at about 7 a.m. [Shillingsburg, “Down Under” 6]. Paine writes they “landed in a pouring rain the breaking up of a fierce drought. Clemens announced that he had brought Australia good-fortune, and should expect something in return” [MTB 1009].

September 17 Tuesday – In Sydney, Australia, Sam gave an interview, possibly fabricated, with “Asmodeus” of Sunday Truth. The Australian Star, p.4 ran an editorial against Sam’s free trade opinions. In the afternoon, Livy and Clara joined a crowd of the Society of Artists at a private showing of Ethel A. Stephens’ work at her studio.

September 18 Wednesday – In Sydney, Australia, Sam gave an interview at 2 p.m. with Louis Becke whose book By Reef and Palm (1895) was a gift (See Sept. 11 entry). Another interviewer waited. Becke inscribed the title page of his book for Sam: To S.L. Clemens / from Louis Becke / Sydney Sept. 1895 [Gribben 54]. See Sept. 24 to Becke.

September – “Mental Telegraphy Again” first ran in Harper’s Magazine. McCullough traces the evolution of both “Mental Telegraphy” articles in the Mark Twain Encyclopedia, p.510. Review of Reviews (London) ran “Mark Twain’s Serious Stories,” p.231, which briefly summarized the “Mental Telegraphy” article in Harper’s [Tenney 23].

September 19 Thursday – In Sydney, Australia, Sam gave the first of some 30 performances down-under at Protestant Hall on Castlereagh St. The lecture was titled, “Mark Twain at Home” (No.1). The hall “easily seating 2000,” the “best hall in Sydney”. Tickets sold from 1-5 shillings. Fatout writes of Sam’s Sydney engagements:

September 2 Monday – Sept. 2. Flocks of flying fish — slim, shapely, graceful, and intensely white. With the sun on them they look like a flight of silver fruit-knives. They are able to fly a hundred yards [FE Ch. IV p.65].

September 20 Friday – In Sydney, Australia, the Clemens family went sightseeing around the city, and lunched with H. Pateson, manager of the New South Wales Fresh Food and Ice Co. on Harbor St., with several other ladies and gentlemen. In Ch. 11 of FE Sam commented on the market; refrigeration used there was only about twelve years old at the time, and made it possible for meat to be shipped to England. Sam gave an interview to a Sunday Times reporter, which was published on Sept.

September 21 Saturday – In Sydney, Australia, Sam gave the second performance of “Mark Twain at Home” No. 2 at a filled Protestant Hall on Castlereagh St. Shillingsburg estimates Sam grossed about £300 from each Protestant Hall performance [At Home 52].