DBD: World Tour

June 1 Monday – In the afternoon in Bloemfontein, S. Africa, Sam wrote to Livy, having received no letter in nearly 48 hours in the town. He rested easy because she was with Clara. He wrote of the landscape and of his activities of the day, taking notes and working on an “extravagant romance,” he’d thought of for “many years.”

June 10 Wednesday – Sam and Carlyle G. Smythe left King Williams Town at 8:20 a.m., traveling the 42 miles to East London, S. Africa, arriving at 11:10 a.m. They took rooms at the Beach Hotel on the Esplanade, with a view of Marine Park [Philippon 21]. A lonely Sam wrote to Livy:

June 11 Tuesday – In Elmira at Quarry Farm, Sam wrote to nephew Samuel Moffett. He’d heard from J.B. Pond that San Francisco was out for the tour:

June 11 Thursday – In East London, S. Africa, Sam gave his “At Home” talk to a “meager house” at Mutual Hall. Tickets ranged from 5 shillings to 2. The small house was due to heavy rain. A man attended who had the copy of IA that Sam gave to John Henry Riley in 1870. A review was published on June 12 by the East London Standard [Philippon 21].

Livy sent a telegram to H.H. Rogers:

June 12 Friday – When Livy and Clara left Durban, Clara exulted because a group of people saw them off. Now in East London, Sam wrote to Livy in Port Elizabeth and included a mention for Clara.

Livy darling I have just been writing a letter to Jean.

June 13 Thursday – At Quarry Farm Sam wrote to John D. Adams of Harper & Brothers The proof he’d received of “Mental Telegraphy Again,” which would run in the Sept. issue, contained no errors. Because he could not read segments of JA before they appeared in Harper’s Monthly, Sam supposed that the chapters XII and XV, which he thought would appear in the August or September issues, might be read in Australia in mid-Sept.

June 13 Saturday – At 7 a.m. in East London, S. Africa, Sam noted it was “Quite winterish” after having experienced twelve months of summer. In the evening Sam gave his No. 3 “At Home” talk at Mutual Hall [Philippon 21]. Note: Parsons writes of Kings William Town and East London, “Mark seems not to have had time for clubs or reporters. Through bad weather and good, however, he kept a heavy platform schedule” [“Clubman in S.A.” 250].

June 14 Sunday – In East London, Sam the observer noted the native males, as he had done the females with liquid voices back in Bloemfontein. Parsons writes,

June 15 Saturday – At Quarry Farm Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers.

Since writing a P.S. to Miss Harrison a minute ago, your note has come and I am very glad you are back. Also, this mail has just brought a notification from Pond that he has got my first reading postponed a week; therefore we shan’t have to leave for Cleveland till Monday July 15. This ought to give me a chance to run down and see you and the Harpers a moment, about the 10th or 12th, or along there.

June 15 Monday – In East London in the afternoon, the tug was able to take Sam and Carlyle G. Smythe across the shifting sandbar and along side of the 4,392 ton Norham Castle. The high sea delayed the sailing for another day, however [Philippon 21; Parsons, “Traveler in S.A.” 27].

June 16 Tuesday – At 6 p.m. in East London, the “large & very fine ship,” the Norham Castle, was able to sail in “a considerable sea” with the breakwater spouting up “in a vast white volume with laced edges, apparently 100 feet high.” It was a day behind schedule and would reach Port Elizabeth, 135 miles south, the following morning (June 17) [Parsons, “Traveler in S.A.” 27; Philippon 21].

June 17 Monday – At Quarry Farm Sam wrote to James B. Pond, having received a copy of the circular. He felt it was a good circular, “very good indeed.” He had questions about wanting to do a second reading in St. Paul and Minneapolis. He asked Pond to send a copy of the circular to R.S. Smythe, Melbourne, “& tell him we don’t go to Frisco because nobody there in mid-summer” [MTP].

June 17 Wednesday – Sam arrived in Port Elizabeth, Cape Colony in the morning, and went to the Grand Hotel where he was reunited with Livy and Clara. In the afternoon he gave an interview to the Eastern Province Herald, which was published on June 19. The Clemens party would remain in Port Elizabeth until June 25. Parsons writes of their time at the Grand Hotel:

June 18 Tuesday – At Quarry Farm Sam wrote to Frank Hall Scott, president of the Century Publishing Co.

I am at last able to take my attention from my pains & discomforts for a moment & do some thinking, preparatory to answering your two long-neglected letters [not extant].

I have a thought; & as a result I am convinced that the magazine articles are impracticable. Let us give up the idea.

June 18 Thursday – In Port Elizabeth Sam wrote to Andrew Chatto that he’d seen the English edition of JA advertised in the Cape Town newspapers, and that though they’d found “very small editions” of his book in stock in India and Australasia, what they found were “easily sold out.”

We sail from Cape Town for England in the Norman (?) July 15; so I shall look in on you about Aug 1st or 2d — unless we switch off at Portsmouth & hunt up lodgings in the Isle of Wight. Sincerely [MTP].

June – At Quarry Farm, Livy wrote to Chatto & Windus: “Your check for two thousand three hundred and nineteen dollars is safely rec’d. / Thanking you for it — and also for your kind wishes… ” [MTP].

June – Sam joked about the obscurity of Robert Browning’s Sordello in NB 38 TS 32, doubting whether Browning himself understood some passages. He attributed the joke to Carlyle Smythe [Gribben 106].

McClure’s Magazine VII p.73-8 ran “Portraits of Mark Twain,” with fifteen half-tone portraits of Sam and his birthplace, along with a brief, conventional biographical sketch [Tenney 24].

June 19 Wednesday – At Quarry Farm Sam wrote to John Horne of Glasgow, Scotland.

I find it thoroughly entertaining. Moreover, I thank you very much for the pleasant attention of giving me the front seat.

I once made a valuable collection of autographs myself — without knowing I was doing it.

June 19 Friday – Flags flew at half-mast in Port Elizabeth for the 400 lost on the Drummond Castle. Sam’s letter of this date to H.H. Rogers did not mention the tragedy, but covered the book and drama rights to JA, the business between Bliss and Harper and the “good news” from Frank Mayo (Sam had not yet learned of his death, news of which Rogers sent June 18).

June 2 Sunday – At Quarry Farm Sam sent a short note to Franklin G. Whitmore, enclosing an envelope to assist him in finding the package of two “waists” for Livy made from worn out dresses. Sam noted the package would be addressed in the same way [MTP]. Note: Evidently, the package had gone astray.

June 2 Tuesday – In Bloemfontein, Carlyle G. Smythe was interviewed by the Friend of the Free State, as he was a few other times during the tour. Several newspapers ran articles about Twain and his S. African tour [Philippon 20].

The Queenstown Free Press, June 2, 1896

MARK TWAIN IN QUEENSTOWN.

June 20 Saturday – In Port Elizabeth, with no performance to give until Monday, the Clemenses likely engaged in sightseeing. Parsons writes,

June 21 Sunday – The Clemens party was in Port Elizabeth, S. Africa, staying at the Grand Hotel.

Livy wrote to Susan Crane that family plans were a “little more certain” — they expected to sail for England on July 15, reaching there about Aug. 1, and would like Susy and Jean to sail about Aug. 5, hoping not to wait later than Aug. 12 [MTP].

June 22 Saturday – At Quarry Farm Sam wrote two letters to H.H. Rogers. In the first, an obvious response to one of Rogers, not extant.

I have made some notes, which I enclose. I wish I could come down and talk with you and Colby and the Harpers, but I can’t. I shan’t be able to put my clothes on till — I don’t know when. Carbuncles are extravagantly slow.

My main objection is a the absence of a time-limit.

June 22 Monday – In Port Elizabeth Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers, who had not cabled the actual date of his marriage (June 3), though Sam knew of his plans to marry Emilie Hart.