September 16 Thursday – Sam wrote an aphorism (from chapter 6 of PW) in the Guest Book of the Villa Bühlegg: “Please do not forget this important truth: Habit is habit—& not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed down-stair a step at a time. / Truly yours / Mark Twain / Villa Bühlegg, Sep 16, 1897” [Locher 20].

September 17 Friday – In Weggis, Switzerland Sam replied to Samuel Rutherford Crockett’s Aug.

Sam noted that Crockett sending his letter to N.Y. “wasted a good deal of time,” which explains why it took him so long to reply.

I know Cleg, & am fond of him, & am ready to welcome him again, & Napoleon, too, when he gets on his uniform. Ten days hence I shall have an address in Vienna for the winter….

September 18 Saturday – In Weggis, Switzerland Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers:

The Swiss vacation is ended & I am packing the trunks for Vienna. That is, I am superintending. …I leave all places with regret, & if there is ever to be an exception, this is not the one. We shall reach Salzburg next Wednesday 22d—no, a day or two later—& remain a week. We reach Vienna about Oct.1. Our address there for a few days will be c/o Thos. Cook & Son, while we hunt up a house to live in.

September 19 Sunday – In Weggis, Switzerland Sam wrote to Robert Barr, editor of The Idler: