January 25 Saturday – In Bombay, Sam’s notebook:
It was Mr. Ghandi (delegate to Chicago World’s Fair Congress of Religions) who explained everything to us yesterday at the Jain temple.
From there went to the house of a wealthy Parsee to assist at a gathering in honor of knighthood being bestowed upon H H The Prince of Politana….
Afterward Parsee palace. Owner had heard me in London 22 years ago [NB 36 TS 24-5].
January 26 Sunday – In Bombay, Sam’s notebook:
Sunday, we lunched at Government House with their excellencies, the Governor and Lady Sandhurst; & at 4 p.m. visited the Towers of Silence with three Parsi gentlemen.
Lovely drive around the sea at sunset, Malabar Point and Scandal Point [NB 36 TS 25-6].
January 27 Monday – The Hindoo Patriot of Feb. 4, 1896 reported on Sam’s whereabouts,
Mark Twain, accompanied by Miss Clemens, visited Monday, in company with Mr. A.S. Panday [sic], the rooms of the Bombay Natural History Society, where Mr Phipson accorded the distinguished visitor a cordial reception. Mr. Clemens expressed himself much pleased with the museum in the rooms of the society [Ahluwalia 10].
January 28 Tuesday – In Bombay, the wedding festivities of the prior night lasted till the wee hours. Sam wrote of it in FE:
January 29 Wednesday – Sam and Carlyle G. Smythe made a “flying trip” to Poona, returning to Bombay the following morning. Sam’s notebook:
Jan. 29. Left for Poona — (southeast).
At the mountain station of Lonauli — 12.30 am, was given that remarkable circus bill.
Been passing through ghats since 10 or 11 (now 12.30) [NB 36 TS 28].
January 3 Friday – The Clemens party was at sea on the Oceana along the southern shore of Australia, en route to Colombo, Ceylon.
January 30 Thursday – Sam and Carlyle G. Smythe returned to Bombay at 11 a.m. Sam spent “Two interesting hours with this prince” Kumar Shri Samatsinghji of Politana State, “& his young daughter — along with Merewether. The others saw the Rani his Wife” [NB 36 TS 29].
Sam and Smythe left at 10 p.m. for Baroda, some 245 miles north. Sam wrote of leaving:
January 31 Friday – At Baroda Station, some 245 miles north of Bombay, Sam was treated to a “ride on a lurching elephant, without a mahout at the controls” [Parsons “MT India” 80]. Clara recalled this as in Colombo, but her later recollections of time and place were often faulty, and the Clemens party had less than 24 hours in Colombo with Sam mostly in bed.
January 4 Saturday – The Clemens party was at sea on the Oceana en route to Colombo, Ceylon. Sam’s notebook reveals anchoring off Albany, Western Australia for mail pickup and delivery, and newspapers. [Shillingsburg, “Down Under” 34; NB 36 TS 14]. Tied up in the “perfectly landlocked roadstead — the most desolate-looking rocks & scarred hills.” Many ships were arriving, “full of people rushing to the mines,” hoping to get rich [At Home 196].
January 5 Sunday – The Clemens party was at sea on the Oceana en route to Colombo, Ceylon.
January 5. At 9 this morning we passed Cape Leeuwin (lioness) and ceased our long due-west course along the southern shore of Australia. Turning this extreme south-western corner, we now take a long straight slant nearly N.W., without a break, for Ceylon. As we speed northward it will grow hotter very fast — but it isn’t chilly, now [FE ch XXXVII 335].
January 6 Monday – The Clemens party was at sea on the Oceana en route to Colombo, Ceylon. Sam was still suffering from carbuncles, and a lingering cold. Lorch writes, “Twain spent most of his time reading, finding particular fascination in Sir John Lubbock’s books on ant life” [192]. A check of Sam’s NB 37 TS 38-44, however [supplied by Gribben, 428] reveals this reading to be on his Apr. 11-23 voyage, and, though Lorch may have found documentation of an earlier use, he does not offer it.
January 7 Tuesday – The Clemens party was at sea on the Oceana en route to Colombo, Ceylon.
January 8 Wednesday – The Clemens party was at sea on the Oceana en route to Colombo, Ceylon. Sam’s notebook carries comment on books he’d recently read at sea. First up, Henry Kingsley’s The Recollections of Geoffry Hamlyn, n.d.
January 9 Thursday – The Clemens party was at sea on the Oceana en route to Colombo, Ceylon.
July 1 Monday – At Quarry Farm Sam wrote to Frank Bliss.
Yours of June 29 received [not extant]. I have been considering and shall not close with the offer of $12000, for 12 magazine articles until I have taken plenty of time to make up my mind. I’ve got to go to New York if I possibly can, before July 10, and if I go I will telegraph you and have a talk with you then.
Sam thought he could travel if the doctor consented [MTP].
July 1 Wednesday – In Kimberley, Sam accompanied A.M. Robeson, assistant engineer to the general manager of DeBeers, Gardner Williams, and viewed the diamond mines and the “Big Hole.” A day’s yield was on display — Sam’s notebook lists it as worth $50,000. In FE, ch. 69 he gives it as $70,000.
July 10 Wednesday – Sam left Elmira without Livy for New York to be examined by attorneys for Thomas Russell the next day. His earlier plans were to stay at the Everett House.
July 10 Friday – In Cape Town, Sam gave his “At Home” (No. 2) lecture to the 1,200-seat Opera House [Philippon 23]. C.J. Littlewort, secretary of the Owl Club in Claremont, invited Sam to join them on Monday night, July 13 before he would sail. Parsons quotes Sam’s reply:
I also regret that my time is so full that I am obliged to limit to so short a space the time that I may spend with you [“Clubman in S.A.” 253].
July 11 Thursday – Sam was examined by attorneys. The Boston Daily Globe sensationalized the session, running this article on p.6, July 12, 1895.
“MARK TWAIN” IS RUINED.
Failure of Publishing House in Which He Was a Partner Involved
the Humorist’s Private Fortune.
NEW YORK, July 11 — “Mark Twain,” otherwise Samuel L. Clemens, the humorist, was examined in supplementary proceedings this afternoon at the office of Stern & Rushmore, his lawyers, at 40 Wall st.
July 11 Saturday – In Cape Town, the Clemenses went to tea at Mrs. Van der Merwe’s [July 9 to Bigelow].
In the evening Sam gave his “At Home” (No. 3) lecture to the 1,200 seat Opera House, this time full to “utmost capacity.” The talk was reviewed on July 13 by the South African Telegraph. Several other newspaper articles on Mark Twain ran this day [Philippon 23-4].
July 12 Friday – Sam gave a reading to 700 boys at the House of Refuge, Randall’s Island, New York as a rehearsal for his tour to kick off in Cleveland on July 15 [Fatout, MT Speaking 662]. Note: The House of Refuge was a reformatory for incorrigible boys.
July 12 Sunday – Sam’s trio of Cape Town lectures behind him, the family spent the day sightseeing. From FE:
July 13 Saturday – Sam left New York on the train for Elmira. In his letter of July 14 to H.H. Rogers, he described seeing Charles E. Rushmore of Stern & Rushmore, attorneys, on the train.
…told him I didn’t want any annoyance at Cleveland;…but he said I could rest easy; said he was sure Wilder [Thomas Russell’s attorney] was now satisfied that I had no concealed property & would leave me alone in Cleveland.
July 13 Monday – Sam gave his final South African “At Home” lecture at the Claremont Town Hall, about seven miles south-southeast of Cape Town. This was a repeat of his No. 1 program. In the evening he was a guest of the Owl Club at Roux’s Masonic Hall in Cape Town. Parsons writes,
July 14 Sunday – At Quarry Farm, Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers, declaring he’d “thrown up the Russell sponge,” meaning he was ready to compromise with Thomas Russell, printer, or pay him in full, the $5,046 owed. He reported Livy’s reaction to newspaper reports of his supplementary examination on July 11 at Stern & Rushmore’s office: