October 3 Saturday – Sam’s notebook: “Monday we leave for New York. Oct. 24 we sail for Italy. To-day I placed flowers on Susy’s grave—for the last time probably—& read words / ‘Good-night, dear heart / good-night’” [NB 46 TS 25; MTB 1206]. Note: entry boxed.
To The Person Sitting in Darkness: Day By Day
October 4 Sunday – At Quarry Farm in Elmira, N.Y. Sam wrote to Henry W. Lucy.
My dear Lucy—Your letter went to Hartford and thereby lost a couple of days, arriving in this remote corner only to-day. Still, I may possibly be able to catch you with a word of welcome before you sail. But I can hardly hope for the good luck of seeing you, for we go on board our ship (bound for Italy) the evening of October 23rd, and your ship will come in next day, after we shall have sailed.
October 5 Monday – At Quarry Farm in Elmira, N.Y. Sam added a P.S. to his Oct. 2 to James Barnes.
“P.S. Oct. 5. It is all right! The book has this moment arrived, & I thank you again” [MTP]. Note: Gribben gives (1866-1936) for Barnes and lists four books, but only one prior to 1905, The Son of Light Horse Harry (1904) Harpers; this may be an early release of the book, but why it would have to be sent from Brazil is not clear [48].
October 6 Tuesday – The Clemens family was resting at the Grosvenor Hotel, N.Y.C.
Sam’s notebook: “Tell Ingersoll’s story of the Calvinist who took a holiday trip to hell. Long story. Abrupt end, without a point. Then ‘But is that the end?’ ‘Yes.—No, I forgot—he couldn’t sell his return ticket’” [NB 46 TS 25].
October 7 Wednesday – George Gregory Smith sent a telegram and wrote a letter to Sam, confirming the lease agreement for the Villa in Florence. [MTP; Oct. 9 to Goodman]. Hill gives the rental price at 10,000 Lire, which was “half the original lease price” [70]. Note: in his Oct. 11 to his mother, Smith noted Sam “cabled his satisfaction”; cable not extant [Orth 30].
October 8 Thursday – Sam’s notebook:
I to write exclusively for him; (magazine stuff).
At 30 cents a word;
And get $10,000 a year;
Even if I write nothing.
If I write more than $10,000 worth, the surplus to be paid at 30 c per word. [NB 46 TS 25]. Note: Sam was mulling over Robert J. Collier’s offer.
Joe Twichell wrote to Sam, the letter not extant but referred to in his Oct. 9 reply.
October 9 Friday – At the Grosvenor Hotel in N.Y.C. Sam wrote an aphorism to Alfred E. Ann: “There is no sadder sight than a young pessimist—except an old optimist. / Truly Yours / Mark Twain. / Oct. 9/03” [MTP].
Sam also wrote to Joe Goodman in Alameda, Calif.
October 10 Saturday – Sam also wrote to Frank N. Doubleday [MTP]. UCCL 12873 letter is not available.
Sam’s notebook: “H. [Harpers] has no subscription-rights in last 2 books. / 1847. Witnessed post mortem of my uncle through the keyhole” [NB 46 TS 25]. Note: curiously, it was his father, not his uncle; also probably not a regular post-mortem, and probably not much could be seen through the keyhole.
October 11 Sunday – Sam’s notebook: “Go to Riverdale, after Mrs. Day’s” [NB 46 TS 25]. Note: Alice Hooker Day (Mrs. John Calvin Day); the nature of the errand is unclear.
George Gregory Smith, in Florence, Italy, wrote his mother: “On Wednesday last [Oct. 7] I signed the lease of the Villa di Quarto for Mark Twain. It is really very fine & beautifully furnished. He cables his satisfaction” [Orth 30]. Note: Sam’s responding cable is not extant.
October 12 Monday – At the Grosvenor Hotel in N.Y.C. Sam began a letter to Frank N. Doubleday that he added a PS to on Oct. 13.
October 13 Tuesday – At the Grosvenor Hotel in N.Y.C. Sam added P.S. to his Oct. 12 to Doubleday:
P. S. Your letter has arrived. It makes me proud & glad—what Kipling says. I hope Fate will fetch him to Florence while we are there. I would rather see him than any other man.
We’ve let the Tarrytown house for a year. Man, you would never have believed a person could let a house in these times. That one’s for sale, the Hartford one is sold. When we buy again may we—may I—be damned.
October 14 Wednesday – At the Grosvenor Hotel in N.Y.C. Sam wrote to Dr. Edwin Pond Parker.
When I read the words “You lie at leisure,” I was for a moment shocked & a little hurt, for you seemed to be charging me with lack of spirit, energy, industry in my calling, & I thought it a strange attitude for you to take, after knowing me so long & so well & I never having given you any reason for it; but another glance showed me that you were talking about something else & meaning no harm.
October 15 Thursday – Henry C. Griffin replied to Sam’s Oct. 13 about a refund of overpayment of taxes on the Tarrytown property.
Yours of the 13th instant received. [Not extant.]
The school tax will soon be ready for collection and I will send the school tax bill to Hoyt & Co., as you directed.
I have an application for return of the overpayment last Spring on the Town tax..
October 16 Friday – The New York Times included a copy of Sam’s letter to the Women’s Municipal League on the upcoming mayoral election within a larger political article on p.1:
MARK TWAIN FOR LOW.
———
Sends His Opinion of a Vote for Tammany to Women’s Municipal League.
Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) has written a letter to the Woman’s Municipal League on the subject of the impending election, in which he says:
October 17 Saturday – At the Grosvenor Hotel in N.Y.C. Sam wrote to Muriel M. Pears.
It isn’t that I have forgotten, but that I have been carrying so many fatiguing & annoying (business) perplexities these 4 months that I was not fitted to think, speak or write about anything else. I am not sure that the load is at last unstrapped & will tumble off three days hence or four, but I am confident of it. If I wasn’t, I couldn’t be trying to write a letter.
October 18 Sunday – Joseph T. Goodman wrote to Sam, wishing him “godspeed” on his “pilgrimage,” and his regret of not still being in NY to share a “schooner…at the Regal.” He sent prayers and hope that Livy would improve in the “balmy air and quiet of your Florentine home.” Joe predicted a “small boom” in JA as many he’d talked to were not aware that Mark Twain wrote such a book, but were now finding out [MTP]. Note: in this particular letter Joe praised JA; he had not always done so.
October 19 Monday – In Sam’s reply to Joe Twichell of Oct. 9, he agreed on a date for Joe to visit them at the Grosvenor Hotel on this day. Hill notes the visit by the Twichells to say goodbye [70]. The date is also noted in Sam’s following NB entry:
October 20 Tuesday – At the Grosvenor Hotel in N.Y.C. Sam wrote a short note to William H. Hoyt Co., authorizing them to “look after my Tarrytown property, and any repairs or details regarding the same…” [MTP].
Sam also wrote again to George W. Reeves, real estate agent for Hoyt & Co.
October 21 Wednesday – At the Grosvenor Hotel in N.Y.C. Sam wrote to Frederick A. Duneka.
Won’t you send Vols. I & II of Poultney Bigelow’s History on board the ship?—“Princess Irene,” North German Lloyd, Hoboken. She sails Saturday, 11 a.m.
My address on board is “Suite 1 (promenade deck.) [”]
And tie this red C on the parcel.
See you to-morrow night. / Mark.
October 22 Thursday – At the Grosvenor Hotel in N.Y.C. Sam wrote to William H. Gillette at the Plaza Hotel in N.Y.C.
Thank you for the verses—fervently. They are lovely. I shall enter heaven singing these hymns. If you believe me, it will Excite Interest. And all parties will clap me on the back—(in private)—& say “Go it!” But not in public, dear sir, not in public; for heaven is not going to change the human being’s nature. …
October 23 Friday – In N.Y.C. Sam and Livy signed the new contracts making Harper & Brothers his exclusive publisher in exchange for a guaranteed $25,000 per year. He then wrote to the American Publishing Co.
“Until further notice in writing from us please send all notices of default, if any there be, under the contract between yourselves, Harpers & Brothers and ourselves executed this day to us, in care of H. H. Rogers, Esq.” [MTP].
October 24 Saturday – The Clemens family and hired help sailed for Genoa, Italy in the Princess Irene [MTHHR 541n1]. Note: the voyage would take 14 days. Isabel Lyon and her mother would sail on Nov. 7 [NY Times, p.13, Nov. 7, 1903]; Sam thought their arrival would be about Nov. 22 or 23; Hill gives the delay and change of plans for Lyon due to her treatment for an eye infection [70]. Trombley gives it as “an injury” [MT’s Other Woman 28]. The injury may have led to infection.
October 25 Sunday – The Clemens family was at sea on the Princess Irene en route for Genoa, Italy.
Sam’s notebook: “Heavy storm all night. Only 2 stewardesses. Our served / 60 meals in rooms this morning” [MTB 1209; NB 46 TS 28]
October 26 Monday – Sam’s notebook: “There being nothing to pass, in mid-ocean a ship going 16 knots seems to stand still—the sea-tale which makes a ship visibly fly, is a misleader./ 1400 Italian steerage at $34 each; 2,000 booked for Dec. 1” [NB 46 TS 28]
October 27 Tuesday – The Clemens family was at sea on the Princess Irene en route for Genoa, Italy.
Sam’s notebook: “Livy is enduring the voyage marvelously well. As well as Clara & Jean, I think, & far better than the trained nurse [Margaret Sherry]. / 3 p.m. She has been out on deck an hour [NB 46 TS 28; MTB 1209].