November 21 Saturday – At the Villa di Quarto near Florence, Livy suffered a bad night that led Sam to search for a doctor the next day [Orth 31: Smith to his mother Nov. 22].
Isabel Lyon and her mother Georgiana Lyon had spent the night in a Florence hotel, and arrived this day at the Villa di Quarto. Isabel’s reaction to the place may be found in: [Trombley, MTOW 29-30].
November 22 Sunday – Sam’s notebook: “Interview; 10 to 12 a.m. / Mr. E. Bunbury— / Caulfield (‘Italian Gazette.)” [NB 46 TS 30].
November 23 Monday – Miss Theodosia Lawson Boone presented Sam the letter of introduction from St. Clair McKelway dated Nov. 18, 1903. Miss Boone added her own note, confessing she did not know McKelway personally, but he was an old friend of her father’s (Dr. William C. Boone) [MTP].
November 24 Tuesday – At the Villa Reale di Quarto near Florence Sam wrote to Daniel Willard Fiske.
It was fine to hear by your own hand that you had turned the corner. Let us soon see you back, & see you here. Mr. Clemens does hereby officially invite you to tea, said invitation to have force & effect on all days, be they wet or be they dry.
November 25 Wednesday – Sam wrote to Joe Twichell [MTP]. UCCL 12876 letter is not currently available.
November 26 Thursday – Thanksgiving. Sam and daughter Jean shared Thanksgiving dinner with the George Gregory Smith’s. Clara stayed behind to help care for Livy. Smith wrote to his mother on Nov. 29:
November 27 Friday – Livy’s 58th birthday.
Rogers had sent a subscription to the N.Y. Sun for Sam. The first copy arrived this day at the Villa. Sam was down with a case of gout, from which he recovered the next day [Nov. 28 to Rogers].
November 28 Saturday – At the Villa Reale di Quarto near Florence Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers, responding to a letter, date unknown, which is not extant.
November 29 Sunday – Sam’s notebook: “Mr. Caulfield, inter. 10 am” [NB 46 TS 30]. Note: Edward B. Caulfield of The Italian Gazette. Interview not in Scharnhorst. See Caulfield’s followup, Dec. 1.
George Gregory Smith wrote to Sam, enclosing copies of Paola de Plaisant’s letter and his reply.
November 30 Monday – Sam’s 68th Birthday.
Rogers’ office sent Clemens a statement showing a New York payment by Bedford Petroleum Co. of Paris, France, for $1,200 [1903 Financials file MTP].
An unidentified person wrote to Sam. Only the envelope survives, bearing postmarks from San Francisco, Washington D.C., and Florence; with stamps from New South Wales, Australia [MTP]. Postmarked MUDGEE, NSW, which is NW of Sydney.
December – Sam’s story, “A Dog’s Tale” first ran in Harper’s Monthly this issue. Budd: “Shortly afterward it was published as a pamphlet…by the National Anti-Vivisection Society in London, dated 1903, although it was apparently not distributed until 1904. The story was published in a separate edition in September 1904 as A Dog’s Tale…and was included in the collection The $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories (1906)” [Collected 2: 1008].
December 1 Tuesday – Harper & Brothers wrote to Sam asking where they should send the vouchers due him and Livy [MTHHR 548n3]. At the Villa Reale di Quarto near Florence Sam cabled to Harper & Brothers: “Make all payments to Rogers / Clemens” [MTP].
Sam also wrote to John Y. MacAlister in London.
December 3 Thursday – At the Villa Reale di Quarto near Florence Sam wrote to Eleanor V. Hutton (Mrs. Laurence Hutton). “I thank you ever so much for your congratulations, & for sending me that accurate description of me. Been in bed a week, but am getting around again. With love to you both…” [MTP].
Susan Crane wrote to Sam (here used the forwarded copy for Rogers typed by Jean with a few comments added by Sam):
December 4 Friday – At the Villa Reale di Quarto near Florence Sam wrote to William Dean Howells.
The Xmas No. is fine, & a worthy place for your moving & beautiful poem. How many it comes home to; how many have felt it, & having felt it once will feel it always. The crime of the Invention of the Human Race—how much it has to answer for!
December 5 Saturday – Sam’s notebook: “The water was again shut off to-day. Upon inquiry, the Maestro di Casa was gone a brief journey” [NB 46 TS 31].
December 6 Sunday – The New York Times, p.4, “Mark Twain’s Wife Ill” squib announced what was really not news.
Theodosia Lawson Boone wrote to Sam, having received his “kind note” on Thursday morning. She could not visit the day suggested (not given) on account of illness of Mrs. Harrick, but would as soon as she recovered on “some other Thursday in the near future” [MTP].
December 7 Monday – Sam’s notebook: “Miss Margaret Sherry (Livy’s trained nurse for the past 12 months & more) left for America to-day. We can never forget her, & shall always be grateful to her” [NB 46 TS 31].
December 8 Tuesday – William Deason for Thomas Cook & Son wrote to Sam, asking for “a declaration from your medical attendant” in the matter of his claim for a refund of Miss Sherry’s unused ticket [MTP].
December 10 Thursday – James Jourdan, President Brooklyn Union Gas sent Sam notices of stockholders’ meetings. There are two notices, one dated Dec. 14 [MTP].
Harper & Brothers wrote to Sam that “all applicants” must be referred first to them, and that the contracts with him “give them authority over everything you have published, also over everything you may write (for use in print)” [MTP].
Katharine I. Harrison wrote to Sam.
December 11 Friday – In Florence, George Gregory Smith wrote to his mother of this day at his home:
“Friday we had quite a gathering. Mark Twain, Labouchere (Mr & Mrs) Mrs McCalmont & a lot of others.” Smith praised Sam for his lack of pretense and was pleased that Sam had taken “a great liking to us & we see a lot of him.” He confided that Livy was “very very ill,” and that Clara, “who is 19 & very sweet & pretty slight & graceful & dark” [Orth 31].
December 12 Saturday – William Deason for Thomas Cook & Son, Florence wrote to Sam, that they rec’d his letter of Dec. 11 and were “most anxious to recover the amount which is due you” [MTP].
December 14 Monday – James Jourdan for Brooklyn Union Gas Co. sent Sam a form letter announcing a stockholders’ meeting for Dec. 30, at noon in the company office, Brooklyn [MTP].
December 15 Tuesday – Sam wrote a MS of ten pages, “Major General Wood, M.D.,” and a TS of five pages, typed and revised before Dec. 28. Not published until 1992 in Zwick [AMT-1: 707].
December 16 Wednesday – At the Villa Reale di Quarto near Florence Sam began a letter to H.H. Rogers that he finished on Dec. 18. Sam enclosed a copy of Susan Crane’s Dec. 3 about John T. Lewis that Jean typed.
December 17 Thursday – At the Villa Reale di Quarto near Florence Sam wrote to Francis H. Skrine.
It is a charming young lady. She brought the book, & I have dipped into it with satisfaction—here I only dip & sip, for I am at work, these days, on a steady long job. We are beginning to like it here; we are housed, but not quite homed yet. But we are a long journey from town, & I like that. The daughters pay the visits & I stay at home.
Mrs. Clemens is not prospering as we could wish [MTP].