Germany, Summer of 1893: DBD

July 17 Monday – Sam’s notebook: “Monday July 17, noon — arranged for pension — 6 Marks a day per person; 4 rooms 60 Marks a week” [NB 33 TS 23].

July 18 Tuesday – In Krankenheil-Tölz, Germany Sam wrote to Charles J. Langdon, asking that Matthew Arnot’s 45 royalties transferred by Arnot to Livy and sent to Franklin G. Whitmore for safe deposit [MTP]. Sam’s notebook:

July 18. Wrote C. J. L. [Charles J. Langdon] to have Arnot’s 45 royalties transferred by Arnot to O.L. Clemens & sent to Whitmore for Safe Deposit [NB 33 TS 23].

July – Sam’s notebook mentioned Thomas Carlyle’s The French Revolution (1856) [Gribben 128; NB 33 TS 22]. Sam also noted “Poem to the Nightingale & Owl (cuc) or Abusive Sketch” [NB 33 TS 23]. Note: This may refer to the medieval (ca. 1200) poem The Owl and the Nightingale.

California Illustrated, p.170-8 ran “Reporting with Mark Twain” Quoted by Fatout [Tenney 21; The Twainian Dec. 1939; Fatout, MT in Va City p.31, 114, 117, 173-4]. See August entry.

July 19 Wednesday – In Krankenheil-Tölz, Germany, Sam wrote a few lines to Frederick J. Hall, thanking him for a letter which had just come. Evidently the letter contained promissory notes for Sam to sign, for he wrote:

I will not stop to answer it, but hurry the notes off at once — as August is not far away, now [MTP].

July 2 Sunday – Back in Munich Sam wrote a short paragraph with one of his famous aphorisms to an unidentified person:

Munich, July 2/93.

Behold, the would-be wise man hath said, “Put not all thine eggs in the one basket” — the which is a manner of saying “Scatter your money & your attention;” but the truly wise man saith “Put all thine eggs in the one basket and — watch the basket” [MTP]. Note: Sam’s source: Andrew Carnegie. See also NB 33 TS 8.

July 20 Thursday – In Krankenheil-Tölz, Germany Sam wrote to Henry C. Robinson in Hartford.

Apparently we can score another for The Club! Once more there’s been people fishing for Bishops there & failed to land the game. Why don’t they let us alone? It is enough to make us all uneasy; there is no telling which of us they will go for next. The family try to soothe me down & make me think there is no danger, but that is easily said — being certain about it is a very different thing.

July 21 Friday – In Krankenheil-Tölz, Germany, Sam wrote again to Professor Lawrence B. Evans, asking if he knew of a chaperone he might secure for Susy to go to Franzeusbar (Franzenbad) for three weeks [MTP].

July 22 Saturday – Sam added a PS to his July 18 to Hall after receiving a check for $250. He advised that Langdon would send him Livy’s interest money, “the only rainy-day money we have left, in case of sudden disaster.”

July 24 Monday – Frederick J. Hall replied to Sam’s “I feel panicky” letter of July 8:

I have cut the help down in all departments to one-quarter what it was, and the financial troubles that we have been having kept me so occupied that I have not had time nor in fact have I thought of all the reports at all as there were so many other things infinitely more important to attend to [MTLTP 357n1].

July 26 Wednesday – Jean Clemens’ thirteenth birthday. In a letter from Krankenheil-Tölz, Germany to Orion and Mollie Clemens, Sam confided, “Jean has been crying at breakfast. It is her birthday & she is deadly homesick.” Sam also discussed Livy’s diagnosis by “the highest authority in Europe,” which contradicted “two American and three European doctors that she had incurable heart disease.” He confided the family’s plans and Susy’s challenge.

July 3 Monday – In Munich, Germany Sam wrote to Frederick J. Hall. He liked Hall’s suggestion to sell off LAL rather than the entire Webster firm. For one thing, Sam understood the firm was in debt, but LAL was not — in fact, the LAL project was owed money.

A proposition to sell that by itself to a big house could be made without embarrassment.

July 30 Sunday – In Krankenheil-Tölz, Germany Sam wrote to his English publishers, Chatto & Windus. He complained, “that these little German papers are so constipated in the matter of news,” and asked if they would pay for the [London] Daily News for him for six months and send it to his bank, Drexel Harjes, Paris.

July 31 Monday – Frederick J. Hall wrote to Sam that “the crisis has come and I hope that we have successfully passed it.” The Mount Morris Bank “met with some very heavy losses through one or two large failures and for that reason had to call in their discounts. They refuse to renew our discounts and even Mr. Whitford’s influence was useless.” Charles J.

July 4–31 Monday – Sometime during the remainder of July, Sam wrote a short note to Frederick J. Hall suggesting they sell only a third interest in LAL to Scribner’s or Appletons, or even all of it with easy payments of “say $2000 or $3000 a month” [MTP; not in MTLTP].

July 7 Friday – Frederick J. Hall wrote a five-page typed letter to Sam, enclosing a draft for $250. Hall characterized it as a “rather discouraging letter,” but that most of the negatives had already taken place. He reviewed the critical nature of the financial markets, the absence of credit, the need for a loan from the U.S. Bank to tide them over; the demands of the Mt. Morris Bank; the shut down of production on LAL; his notification to and response from Stedman; his not having drawn a full salary “for some time past; his seeing Mr.

July 8 Saturday – In Munich, Germany Sam wrote to Frederick J. Hall.

Dear Mr. Hall:

I am sincerely glad you are going to sell L.A.L. I am glad you are shutting off the agents, and I hope the fatal book will be out of our hands before it will be time to put them on again. With nothing but our non-existent capital to work with the book has no value for us, rich a prize as it will be to any competent house that gets it.

July 9 Sunday – In Munich, Sam wrote on Hotel Du Rhin letterhead to Susan Crane that he added a PS to on July 10. Sam asked her to thank Mr. Halsey for “the way he handled” his “small business,” as he’d not had the chance to thank him in purpose during his stay in New York.

June 26 Monday – In Munich, Germany Sam wrote to Frederick J. Hall.

We have reached here at last, after a much-broken journey — this was rendered necessary by the state of Mrs. Clemens’s health. We came here to consult a specialist. We expect him to call to-day. He will probably send us out of Munich to some mountain town.

June 27 Tuesday – The Clemens family rested in Munich, Germany. On this day Sam made a notebook entry:

Article — “The Unfinished Novel.” If it were continued, how sad it would be. Thackeray finishing the Waverly [sic] novels was on track of a truth [Gribben 618; NB 33 TS 20].

June 28 Wednesday – At about 8 a.m Sam left Munich for Berlin to accompany daughter Clara back to Munich. Sam’s notebook reveals the trip:

June 28. Arrived at Berlin at 8.28 p.m about 12 ½ hr. out from Munich — still good daylight. Clara, Mrs. Willard & Secretary Jackson at station. Staid at Jackson’s [NB 33 TS 20].

June 29 Thursday – Sam’s notebook:

29th. Breakfast toward 10. Called on Mrs. Rottenberg. [Marian Phelps, recently married] Lunched at Mrs. Willard’s at 2 p.m. Called at the Embassy & saw Coleman, then called on Excellenz von Versen (Mauerstr 36) then left a card on the British Ambassador, then to Jackson’s.

Berlin is a wonderfully fine city, & its government is a model. / The “Victory” statue is wretched only from behind [NB 33 TS 20].