Life in Exile: Day By Day

January 5 Tuesday – Colonel Andrew S. Burt wrote to Sam (four half pages, typed) from Ft. Missoula, Mont., having rec’d his two-page letter and inscribed copy of LM . Burt sent family sentiments, told of opening the wrapped book at Christmas and asked when Sam might return to Ft. Missoula.

January 5 Wednesday – H.H. Rogers wrote to Sam; letter not extant but referred to in Sam’s Jan. 20 reply.

Sam, and perhaps the family as well, saw the premiere of Theodor Herzl’s play Das neue Ghetto (The New Ghetto) at the Carltheater, a mid-nineteenth century theater. Here Sam may have met Sigmund Freud for the first time. Dolmetsch writes:

January 5 Thursday – At the Hotel Krantz in Vienna, Austria, Sam wrote or cabled to Andrew Chatto about the adventures of de Rougemont [MTP]. Note: See Sept. 26, 1898 on Louis de Rougemont.

Sam wrote “Diplomatic Pay and Clothes” datelined “Vienna, January 5.”

January 6 Wednesday – From Gribben p.140 : “On 6 and 7 January 1897 Mark Twain amused himself with working notes ‘for a farce or sketch’ (or perhaps ‘an Operetta’) which would employ ‘pilgrims to Canterbury’ accompanied by Chaucer himself’” [NB 39 TS 43; NB 40 TS 1].

January 6 Thursday – At the Hotel Metropole in Vienna, Austria, Livy wrote for Sam to Frank Marshall White, thanking him for his note which reinforced Sam’s belief that White could not “be guilty of such seeming discourtesy.” Also, Livy passed along Sam’s regrets that the cable from the N.Y. Journal asking for a rundown on “the Reichsrath’s affairs” had come “much too late” [MTP].

January 6 Friday – At the Hotel Krantz in Vienna, Austria, Sam wrote to Richard Watson Gilder, suggesting omitting “Republican” from “Republican Statemanship,” for a new Century Dictionary that Gilder and “other philologists” were “engaged in constructing” [MTP].

January 6 Saturday – Harper & Brothers wrote to Sam (this note was then forwarded by Sam on Jan. 18 to Poultney Bigelow:

We beg leave to enclose herewith a copy of a letter which we received from Mr. J. Boyd Douglass, in which he asks permission to use your story “The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg” as “an incentive for the construction of a “comedy drama.” We have advised Mr. Douglass that we have referred his request to you [MTP].

January 7 Thursday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam wrote to his sister, Pamela Moffett, who had complained to Orion that Sam answered his letters but not hers. Sam explained he was in the habit of writing Orion “about 8 times a year,” paying Orion “one for six” of his letters. Then he confessed the real reason for not writing to her:

January 7 Friday – Katharine I. Harrison wrote to Sam, replying to his Dec. 18 and Dec. 21 letters (neither extant). She sent “the Calcutta letter” to John Brusnahan (foreman at the NY Herald) and would report back what he said.

January 8 Monday – At 30 Wellington Court in London, England Sam wrote to Katharine I. Harrison, enclosing a typewritten sheet with sections XIV between his and Livy’s Dec. 31, 1896 contract with American Publishing Co., and V, and VI from his Dec. 31, 1896 contract between Harper & Brothers and the American Publishing Co. and Livy:

January 9 Sunday – At the Hotel Metropole in Vienna, Livy wrote for Sam to Walter Bliss, replying to Bliss’ Dec. 24 (not extant). Sam verified a quotation on p.619. Receipt of six books was acknowledged; the Clemenses were “very glad the sale of the book has been satisfactory” [MTP].

William Dean Howells wrote to Sam after receiving one of Sam’s 50 printed “In Memoriam” poems with a large picture of Susy Clemens.

January 9 Monday – At the Hotel Krantz in Vienna, Austria, Sam wrote a short note and a letter to William T. Stead, editor of the Review of Reviews, London:

“The Czar is ready to disarm. I am ready to disarm. Collect the others; it should not be much of a task now” [MTP: Paine’s 1917 Mark Twain’s Letters, p.291; MTB 1072].

January 9 Tuesday – Henry Ferguson wrote from Hartford to Sam, enclosing a copy of Sam’s article about the Hornet saga from the Century with changes suggested.

“I should be glad to have the whole passage in regard to the supposed disaffection of the men omitted, but do not feel that I should urge this against your will if the other changes are made.” He added an interesting detail: “Captain Mitchell died on July 23rd 1876…he was taken ill in South America.” In either this or a separate note of this date Ferguson [MTP].

July 1 Thursday – Andrew Chatto and Sam “ripped out a raft of reprint matter from the Australian part of the book” (FE) feeling it improved the book and wasn’t needed [July 2 to Bliss].

The Hartford Courant, July 3, 1897: “Theatrical Gossip – Gillette Gives a Supper” p.3. The article did not report that Sam spoke at the supper. The dinner was noted in his notebook but no mention of a talk or speech given; if he did his words have been lost:

July 1 Saturday – In London, England, Sam replied to Francis H. Skrine (Skrine’s not extant), after a visit proved the Skrine’s were not home.

Alas, we shall then be far out on the briny deep, & between this & then I see no chance for us to get together, on account of interfering engagements; but we shall be back by October, & then we shan’t have any difficulty about managing it. We were hoping to catch you at home today & say good-bye, but luck was against us—you were out [MTP].

July 1 Sunday – At 30 Wellington Court in London, Sam wrote a postcard to John Y. MacAlister that he could not go to the Savage Club on the 8th. He would try to come by the next day but he might fail to do so as they were about to move and he had to “do a private reading in the afternoon” [MTP].

July 10 Saturday – Sam’s notebook:

London, July 10. Livy, Clara , & Julie Langdon in a hansom. The horse fell, the whole front of the hansome wrecked, Clara thrown over & disappeared from Livy’s view—fell on the struggling horse’s rump, slipped down on to his hind legs in front of the wheels, scrambled out & had no severe hurts. Livy was flung on to the floor of the hansom & got two bruises on her face. Julie was not unseated, & not hurt.

July 10 Sunday – In Kaltenleutgeben, Austria, Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers.

July 10 Monday – Sometime during their stay in Sanna, Sweden (through Sept 27 ), Sam wrote a postcard to Poultney Bigelow, who had encouraged them to take Jean to Sanna, where he had experienced a cure from dysentery.

“We are well satisfied, & very glad you put us up to it. / Hope you are all having a good time. Are you still as brisk & healthy as when I saw you last? / SLC” [MTP].

July 10 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook: “Dr. Haig, 7 Brook st (just around the corner.) / A.D. Provand, M.P. 2 Whitehall Court SW / The pocket-mine (or Frenchman’s Tunnel) in 1855. The 3 meet there again, aged 75) & strike it rich. But the girl, oh where is she? Chapparal quail” [NB 43 TS 21].

Will M. Clemens replied to Sam’s objections in his June 6 reply.

July 11 Sunday – At the Hans Crescent Hotel in London, Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers.

[Vol 3 Section 0099  1897 59]

July 11 Tuesday – On July 18 Sam would write in his notebook that daughter Jean had taken a week of “Kellgren’s Movement Cure,” which puts her initial treatments to this day [NB 40 TS 57]. Note: On Sept. 15 he wrote to his nephew Moffett that Jean “began here on the 11th July…”

July 11 Wednesday –At Dollis Hill House in London, England Sam wrote to Brander Matthews.

My souls, I’m glad to see you!

But look here—I’m to come in to London & dine with my old friend J.Y.W. MacAlister (20 Hanover Square) & he is inviting Bronson Howard.

Can’t I come after dinner to the Savile Club, & fetch MacA. With me, & have a smoke? [MTP].

July 12 Monday – At 8 a.m. the Clemens family left London, bound for the Continent. Rodney points out they would be in “exile” for three more years [209].

The normal route Belgium, then to to Weggis on Lake Lucerne, Switzerland would have been Dover to Flushing, Cologne, Germany and south through Germany, then through Basle to Lucerne

July 12 Wednesday – In Sanna, Sweden Sam wrote out his daily routine to daughter Clara, who had remained in London to continue her voice lessons: “Hell, July 12/99 / (Sanna Branch), Sweden”

This is the daily itinerary: