May 20 Friday – In Venice, Italy Livy wrote to Grace King concerning the family’s change in plans for the next winter:
We have given up Paris and have taken a villa in Florence for next winter. Mr Clemens had a great dread of Paris and even a suburb did not attract him. We found the singing advantages would probably be good for Susy and so decided rather suddenly to take up a villa a little way out of town [Rodney 144].
May 21 Saturday – Sam’s notebook in Venice, dated May 22:
Tried to make the Johnsons, Browns, Sarah Orne Jewett, Mrs. James T. Fields, Mr. Washington understand (with Clara’s help) the old puzzle of Whitmore taking me around the loop in his buggy. Of course they all laughed at my stupidity at first, but this is just a “$100-bill & pair of boots” puzzle before they get done with it.
May 22 Sunday – In Venice Sam wrote to Frederick J. Hall having received his May 9 letter (not extant), which Sam wrote, “sounds very good.” Sam wanted Mr. Halsey of Wall Street to invest the funds using “his own best judgment”; Sam didn’t want to “meddle.” He cited Susan Crane’s agreement on the matter, which suggests she knew and respected Halsey. Sam also forecasted his return on business matters:
May 24 Tuesday – Charles D. Taylor wrote from Kingston, R.I. to Sam: “Although a stranger to you, I venture to enclose to you a farce I have written entitled “Ye Old Militia Muster.” Taylor thought Sam might handle the subject with humorous treatment better [MTP].
M.E. Waring for Atlantic Lyceum Bureau in Baltimore wrote to Sam seeking his lecture for one night in a winter series course of lectures for the benefit of “a prominent church” [MTP].
May 25 Wednesday – Before leaving Venice, Sam wrote to Mrs. Katherine C. Bronson.
Dear Mrs. Bronson:
You are wonderfully good — too good for here below. I thank you ever so much for those books, — which I shall treasure for your sake as well as their own — & I was hoping to see you & say all this with my mouth, & add the good-byes of Mrs. Clemens & me; & I took my daughters along, too, to exhibit them to you; but you were out philandering around & we missed you [MTP].
May 26 Thursday – The Clemens party was in transit to Lake Como and Cadenabbia.
May 27 Friday – The Clemens party arrived in Cadenabbia, where they would relax for a week. Sam’s notebook:
May 27. Cadenabbia, Lake of Como, Hotel Brittannia, 1st floor — all front rooms, looking across to Bellagio & the snow-clad peaks. Everything 90 fr. per day [NB 31 TS 49].
May 28 Saturday – The Clemens party was in Cadenabbia. Sam’s notebook:
May 28. Saturday. Took Salvitora & his boat at 8 fr. per day.
Asti is mighty dainty & good — when you call it good. But no man can tell it from champagne cider [NB 31 TS 49].
May 29 Sunday – In Cadenabbia, Italy Sam wrote to (Daniel) Willard Fiske, wealthy Cornell professor who was traveling around Italy collecting manuscripts (see Apr. 1892 listing). As Paine writes, it was through Fiske that the were directed to the Villa Viviani, which they rented for the next winter. The Villa was on a hill east of Florence, near Settignano [MTB 945].
May 30 Monday – Edward L. Starck, city surveyor in N.Y. wrote to Sam with the recommendation of Prof. W. James of Harvard, seeking $500 to publish his MS of a “philosophical nature” [MTP].
May 31 Tuesday – Daniel Willard Fiske wrote (not extant) to Sam concerning the arrangement of the Villa Viviani for the next winter, the livery addresses Livy had requested, and an offer of future help from Signor William Sordi, Fiske’s secretary [June 12 to Fiske].