August 23 Tuesday – The Clemens party was in Hallstatt, Austria. Sam’s notebook:
Hallstadt, Aug. 23/98. Beautiful lake in a cup of precipices; surface littered with refuse & sewer-contributions; men (but not many—& not tourists) swim in it. Pre-historic remains are found here.
August 27 Saturday – The Clemens family left Bad Ischl, Austria and traveled the 174 miles to Vienna, where they arranged housing for the winter with the Krantz Hotel. They then traveled back in Kaltenleutgeben, arriving in the evening [Aug. 28 to Rogers].
The Pall Mall Gazette’s piece by Carlyle G. Smythe ran in the N.Y. Times as “Mark Twain’s Literary Taste,” p. BR567:
August 28 Sunday – In Kaltenleutgeben, Austria, Sam replied to Frank E. Bliss’ Aug. 16 (not extant) statement. Sam pointed out the $1,000 for the FE excerpts given to McClure’s wasn’t on the statement— it would be all right if Bliss sent that amount to Rogers. Sam didn’t have any idea what to put in the suggested introduction to his Uniform Edition, and had never seen an intro that had value.
August 29 Monday – In Kaltenleutgeben, Austria, Sam finished his Aug. 28 to H.H. Rogers.
P.S. Next Day. / Yours of the 19th has arrived [not extant], enclosing letter of Mr. Harper and opinion of Mr. Rives.
Good, I am glad a settlement is close at hand, though I wish Rives wouldn’t always keep on interfering with people’s arrangements.
August 30 Tuesday – In Kaltenleutgeben, Austria Sam wrote to William Dean Howells.
“This morning I read to Mrs. Clemens your visit to the Spanish prisoners, & have just finished reading it to her again—& lord, how find it is & beautiful, & how gracious & moving. You have the gifts—of mind & heart” [MTHL 2: 679]. Note: Harper’s Weekly of Aug. 20 had published Howells’ “Our Spanish Prisoners at Portsmouth.”
September – Pall Mall Magazine issue for Sept. ran “The Real Mark Twain,” p. 28-36 by Carlyle G. Smythe, Sam’s “down under” tour manager and companion in London prior to Susy’s death [Gribben 464]. Review of Reviews (London) for this month summarized Smythe’s article and quotes passages on “His Literary Tastes” [Tenney 27].
September 2 Friday – In Kaltenleutgeben, Austria, Sam wrote to Edward Bok, editor of the Ladies’ Home Journal, suggesting “My Platonic Sweetheart” as suitable “for a periodical whose specialty is the fireside, the home.” It was longer than Bok had wanted and Sam’s price was $1,000, but Sam was mailing it that day—if Bok didn’t want it would he please mail it to H.H. Rogers.
September 6 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook:
Am sending to Bok “My Platonic Sweetheart” (about 9,000 words—price $1000). Am writing him if he doesn’t (or does) want it, inform Mr. Rogers.
Am sending “Concerning the Jews” to Mr. Rogers. If Bok keeps the above send this one to Harper. But if Bok declines, send both to Harper, let him have his choice, then send the remaining one to Century [NB 40 TS 32].
September 9 Friday – Sam’s notebook:
“Sept. 9. Man hanged himself today, leaving wife & 2 chn & nothing else. He had lost 28 gulden gambling. Countess Wydenbruck took up a collection. Result, 180 gulden—just ten times what he lost
————
Man is fearfully & wonderfully made out of microbes” [NB 40 TS 32].
September 10 Saturday – Elisabeth of Bavaria (“Sisi”), Empress of Austria (1837-1898) was assassinated in Geneva by young anarchist Luigi Lucheni, who wanted to kill any royal, and had been unable to find a prince from the House of Orleans. Clemens would write on Sept. 13 to Joe Twichell of Elisabeth as, “That good and unoffending lady,” and that he was “living in the midst of world-history again.”
September 11 Sunday – Livy wrote to Susan L. Crane:
Of course all Austria is in grief over the terrible news of the assassination of he Empress. What a hideous thing it is!
September 13 Tuesday – In Kaltenleutgeben, Austria, Sam wrote to Joe Twichell [MTP].
September 14 Wednesday – In Kaltenleutgeben, Austria, Sam replied to John Y. MacAlister in London, whose recent invitation (not extant) to speak or preside at a meeting of the Savage Club in November had arrived. Sam couldn’t go unless business also demanded, for it took him six days to travel to London since he wouldn’t travel at night. And by no means would he preside:
September 17 Saturday – Sam went to the Hotel Krantz, where he watched the funeral procession of the slain Empress Elisabeth. He later wrote “The Memorable Assassination,” not published until 1917 in What Is Man? and Other Stories by Harper & Brothers. From that piece:
September 19 Monday – In Kaltenleutgeben, Austria, Sam wrote to John Brisben Walker, owner of Cosmopolitan.
Sure it’s the illegant conscience you’ve got, & few there be that can afford such an expensive one. Yes, the second cheque astonished—& gratified—me. I didn’t know what it was for; I merely uttered my little prayer of humble thanks & went & cashed it. Many would have thought God sent it; but I knew by the signature it was you.
September 20 Tuesday – Sam’s notebook entry of Sept. 21 related a dinner tale of this evening:
September 21 Wednesday – In Kaltenleutgeben, Austria, Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers that he was “finishing an article about the assassination of the Empress” Elisabeth of Austria (see Sept. 17 entry for long excerpt from “The Memorable Assassination.”) If Edward Bok rejected and returned “My Platonic Sweetheart” Sam would like for Katharine I. Harrison to offer Bok the assassination piece, which would be shorter and cheaper. Life was less stressful now in Vienna:
September 22 Thursday – Lt. Colonel F.B. Bowyer-Lane of the Nimrod Club wrote to Sam, letter not extant but referred to in Sam’s Sept. 25 notebook entry [NB 40 TS 46].
September 25 Sunday – In Kaltenleutgeben, Austria, Sam wrote to Bram Stoker in London.
“Mr. Bowyer-Lane thinks that possibly he can place the ‘Bartel Turaser.’ What do you advise? Will you communicate with him? Or will you tell me what to say? Do you know him?” [MTP]. Note: “Lane-Bowen of the Nimrod Club” was the name Sam used in his July 6 to Chatto & Windus. He remains unidentified. “Bartel” is the play Sam had translated. See Mar. 15, Sept. 10 entries.
September 26 Monday – In Kaltenleutgeben, Austria, Sam wrote to Edward W. Bok offering “The Memorable Assassination” piece for $600, which he had just completed and sent to H.H. Rogers with a “photo or two of the Empress & the funeral procession” [MTP]. Note: Sam gave his future “New address: Hotel Krantz, Neuemarket Vienna.”
Sam also wrote to Katharine I. Harrison, letter not extant but referred to in this notebook entry:
September 28 Wednesday – Gribben writes on Alfred von Berger’s Habsburg. Marchenspiel in drei Acten (Vienna 1898):
October – Ladies’ Home Journal ran “The Anecdotal Side of Mark Twain, p. 5-6.
October 1 Saturday – In Kaltenleutgeben, Austria, Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers, thinking he’d been indiscreet in writing J. Henry Harper on Aug. 30 (see entry).
October 3 Monday – In Kaltenleutgeben, Austria, Sam wrote to H.Q. Russ in Lynn, Mass. who had written (not extant) about ordering a bust of Sam done by the Russian sculptress, Theresa Fedorowna Ries.
October 5 Wednesday – Henry M. Alden for Harper & Brothers wrote to Sam: