July 3 Monday – Paine writes of a switch in hats between Twain and Basil Wilberforce at T. Douglas Murray’s (1841-1911) luncheon this day (except that he confuses July 3 with the period shortly after the Clemenses arrived in London):
July 4 Tuesday – In London, England, Sam wrote to Mrs. William Manning, declining some invitation—it would “break my rule & I must not do it,” he wrote. He thanked her and Mr. Manning in Livy’s behalf and his own for their offers of hospitality [MTP].
July 5 Wednesday – At the Prince of Wales Hotel in London, England, Sam wrote to an unidentified man (likely a photographer) asking him not to “risk the photos by sending them here,” as he was leaving England for the summer. He directed they be sent to Chatto & Windus and gave their address [MTP].
July 6 Thursday – In London, England, Sam wrote to Edmund W. Gosse (1849-1928), English poet, essayist and art critic, about the Clemens family’s travel plans, and the difficulties of a visit anytime soon:
July 7 Friday – In London, England on letterhead with “Chelsea Embankment,” Sam wrote to Douglas B. Sladen that he wouldn’t see London before “autumn or the edge of winter,” and thanked the Authors Club for “the honor” which they offered him, and which he regretted he could not take advantage of.
July 8 Saturday – The family traveled on some four and a half hours by rail from Götenburg to Jönkoping; then three miles by two-horse landau to Sanna, Sweden. Sam later described Sanna:
Sanna consists of a half a dozen villas belonging to Kellgren—in these the patients live. It is on a vast blue lake, & at its back are the open fields. In the matter of brilliant skies, pure & bracing air, & intense quiet & reposefulness, of course the place is perfection.
July 9 Sunday
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 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 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:
July 13 Thursday – In Sanna, Sweden Sam wrote to Laurence Hutton in London in care of Chatto & Windus.
So you sail Sept. 1st —and we shan’t get a glimpse of you two, for which we are very very sorry. We are here till October taking the Swedish movement-cure. I am taking it myself, for the mental & physical refreshment it furnishes, though there’s nothing the matter with me. We left Clara in London (c/o Chatto & Windus); she will sail for here July 28.
July 14 Friday – In Sanna, Sweden Sam wrote to Robert Lutz, sending him the finished biographical sketch which his nephew, Samuel E. Moffett had completed from Sam’s draft. Sam informed him it would be published in the 22-volume Uniform Edition of his works. “It is plenty long enough, & I shall be glad to see it take the place of the longer one you are now publishing” [MTP].
July 15 Saturday – In Sanna, Sweden Sam replied to Daniel Willard Fiske (incoming letter not extant).
Then inside of 3 weeks we shall see you! Good! God could not arrange it better. Except in one way; to reduce the 3 weeks to 3 days. That would increase my reverence & compel my praise.
July 16 Sunday – In Sanna, Sweden Sam wrote to Chatto & Windus, asking that he send “a couple of the very best of Clark Russell’s sea-tales.” He also wanted some smaller pictures of himself, and asked if they hadn’t heard from daughter Clara to please write her. He ended with, “Jönköping is pronounced Zhenshepping—think of that!”[MTP].
July 18 Tuesday – In Sanna, Sweden Sam wrote to Mollie Clemens. His letter is not extant but was transcribed in a letter from Pamela A. Moffett to her son, Samuel on Aug. 3. Sam wrote of the biographical sketch that his nephew had done of him for the Uniform Edition of his works. He wrote they would return to England in the fall and sail for American before spring [MTP].
July 19 Wednesday – Joe Twichell wrote to Livy, this day or the next, July 20 [MTP].
July 20 Thursday – Sam’s notebook:
5 p.m. 20th. Jean fell in a spasm striking her head on the slop jar. A bad convulsion; she lay as if dead—face purple & no light in the eyes. I ran & brought Harry; his father soon followed. They are working at her now. She is better [NB 40 TS 58].
July 21 Friday – Robert G. Ingersoll died in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. of congestive heart failure, age 65. Sam admired Ingersoll, called the “Great Agnostic” for views Sam couldn’t publicly take himself. Audio recordings Ingersoll made at Edison’s Menlo Park laboratory survive and are accessible online. See Sam’s letter of Nov. 12 to Eva L. Farrell, Ingersoll’s niece. Also, Schwartz’s May 1976 article, “Mark Twain and Robert Ingersoll: The Freethought Connection” in American Literature Vol. 48, No. 2, p. 183-93
July 23 Sunday – In Sanna, Sweden Sam replied to Richard Watson Gilder (incoming not extant). Sam praised the cure they’d been taking—“it takes all the old age out of you & sends you for the feeling like a bottle of champagne that’s just been uncorked” [MTP].
July 24 Monday – A letter by Clemens to Joseph Hatton was assigned this date by a June 25, 2003 auction sale of Bonhams & Butterfields. The text is not available; the catalog listing from the MTP shows the letter pasted to the front flyleaf of a First English Edition of PW, “an Autograph Letter Signed, July 24 [1899], to Mr. Hatton, regretting that they will be unable to meet prior to his trip to Sweden, signed (“S.L. Clemens” pasted to front flyleaf” [Sale 7443z, Lot 3171].
July 25 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook:
July 25, ’99, Sanna: Jean had a convulsion in bed at noon—fortunately the Director had just entered the roon.
It was tolerably severe. He relieved her.
At 5 she had another while sitting on the porch, Livy & I present. We were not able to carry her in—so laid her on the floor & did what we could till we sent for & got Miss Moore. By & by it passed & we got her to bed [NB 42 TS 57].
July 26 Wednesday – Jean Clemens’ nineteenth birthday.
July 29 Saturday – The New York Times, p.BR500:
Mark Twain’s Editions in London
July 30 Sunday – In Sanna, Sweden Sam wrote to Phyl:
July 31 Monday – In Sanna, Sweden Sam and Livy wrote condolences to Charles M. and Mary P. Fairbanks on the death of their mother, Mary Mason Fairbanks (died Dec. 8, 1898 in Providence R.I.).
Sam explained he could not write earlier for lack of her address [MTMF 279 for Sam’s; MTP for Livy’s enclosed].
Sam also wrote again to Phyl, noted as “an autograph collector.”
Dear Phyl: