June 26 Sunday – At the Grand Hotel Du Quirinal in Rome Sam wrote to Charles J. Langdon.
Dear Charley: / Jean, Katy & I had to halt when the rest left the Villa for good, on the 20th. Jean was sick. But she rallied, & we followed the others 3 hours later & arrived at the Hotel de la Ville about 8 p. m.
We were to remain there 4 days while the mourning-gowns were finishing.
June 27 Monday – The Clemens party left for Naples, where they would sail the next day for America. The voyage would take fourteen days [June 26 to Langdon]. The NB entry shows the party stayed at the Hotel du Vesuvie.
June 28 Tuesday – Sam later wrote of the mix-up of this morning:
In Naples at 10 a.m. sailing-day I sent my courier to the local agent to inquire if all was right. He was told the casket was on board. The ship was to sail at 4. I arrived on board about 3, & was astounded to learn there were no certificates [for the casket], & that if I could not produce them the casket must be put ashore, because without them it would not be allowed to land in America.
June 28 Tuesday – Sam later wrote of the mix-up of this morning:
In Naples at 10 a.m. sailing-day I sent my courier to the local agent to inquire if all was right. He was told the casket was on board. The ship was to sail at 4. I arrived on board about 3, & was astounded to learn there were no certificates [for the casket], & that if I could not produce them the casket must be put ashore, because without them it would not be allowed to land in America.
June 29 Wednesday – The Clemens party was en route in the Prince Oscar from Naples to New York.
Sam’s notebook: “Sailed last night at 10. The bugle-call to breakfast. I recognized the notes & was distressed. When I heard them last, Livy heard them with me; now they fall upon her ears unheeded. / This ship is the ‘Prince Oscar,’ Hamburg-American” [NB 47 TS 14].
June 30 Thursday – The Clemens party was en route in the Prince Oscar from Naples to New York.
Sam’s notebook: “ Clara keeps her bed, & cannot bear to see any stranger. / The weather is beautiful, the sea is smooth & luminously blue” [NB 47 TS 13].
And, under the printed month-end notes heading right after this entry, he wrote: “In my life there have been 68 Junes—but how vague & colorless 67 of them are, contrasted with the deep blackness of this one!” [ibid.].
July – Review of Reviews (NY) published a portrait of Mark Twain, “From a photograph recently taken in Italy,” p. 122 [Tenney 39].
July 1 Friday – The Clemens party was en route in the Prince Oscar from Naples to New York.
Sam’s notebook: “I cannot reproduce Livy’s face in my mind’s eye—I was never in my life able to reproduce a face. It is a curious infirmity—& now at last I realize it as a calamity / [Horiz. Line separator] / Passed Gibraltar in the fog, 1.a.m. It is a slow ship” [NB 47 TS 15; MTB 1222 in part]. Note: the 1 a.m. would have been July 2.
July 2 Saturday – The Clemens party was en route in the Prince Oscar from Naples to New York.
Sam’s notebook: “In these 34 years we have made many voyages together, Livy dear—& now we are making our last; you down below & lonely; I above with the crowd & lonely” [MTB 1222; NB 47 TS 15].
July 3 Sunday – The Clemens party was en route in the Prince Oscar from Naples to New York.
Sam’s notebook: “Ship-time 8 a.m. In 13 hours & a quarter it will be 4 weeks since Livy died. / 31 years ago we made our first voyage together—& this is our last one in company. Susy was a year old, then. She died at 24 & has been in her grave 8 years” [MTB 1222; NB 47 TS 15].
July 4 Monday – The Clemens party was en route in the Prince Oscar from Naples to New York.
Sam’s notebook: “We did not come out of our rooms during the day and evening. We were full of memories of other Fourths” [NB 47 TS 15].
July 5 Tuesday – The Clemens party was en route in the Prince Oscar from Naples to New York.
Sam’s notebook: “On the second day out, the surgeon was asked for a tonic for Clara. I was sorry, for it is easier to get rid of 7 diseases than of one doctor. This one has called every day since. After York Harbor and Florence I have an aversion for one-horse doctors. (Kirch). / [Horiz. Line separator] / Passed the Azores” [NB 47 TS 15].
July 6 Wednesday – The Clemens party was en route in the Prince Oscar from Naples to New York.
Fanny P. Hapgood, also a passenger on the Prince Oscar, wrote a note of condolence to Sam [MTP].
July 7 Thursday – The Clemens party was en route in the Prince Oscar from Naples to New York.
July 8 Friday – The Clemens party was en route in the Prince Oscar from Naples to New York.
Sam’s notebook: “A wonderful day. Brilliant sun, brilliant blue water, strong & delightful breeze. In middle of Gulf Stream. Temperature of water, 73 1/2° Fahr. We had such days in the Indian Ocean, & Livy so enjoyed the exaltation of spirit they produced” [NB 47 TS 15].
July 9 Saturday – The Clemens party was en route in the Prince Oscar from Naples to New York.
Sam’s notebook: “Rainy” [NB 47 TS 15].
July 10 Sunday – The Clemens party was en route in the Prince Oscar from Naples to New York.
Sam’s notebook: “To-night it will be 5 weeks. But, to me it remains yesterday—as it has from the first. / But this funeral march—how sad & long it is! / Two more days will end the second stage of it” [MTB 1222; NB 47 TS 15].
July 11 Monday – The Clemens party was en route in the Prince Oscar from Naples to New York.
William Milligan Sloane in Princeton, N.J. wrote Sam a letter of condolence [MTP].
July 12 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook: “Due to finish this melancholy voyage at 7 or 8 this evening. / Small-pox discovered this morning; 5 cases in steerage: every soul on board being vaccinated” [NB 47 TS 16].
July 13 Wednesday – The Clemens family and Livy’s body were transported to Elmira on the Delaware and Lackawanna Railroad, in Edward E. Loomis’ private car “The Lake Forest” [NY Times July 13, “Clemens Brings Wife’s Body,” p.7].
Odoardo Luchini wrote another letter, mostly in Italian to Sam, with best wishes [MTP].