Eight Atlantic Ocean Crossings: DBD

April 1 Sunday – The McClure Syndicate ran an “interview” with Sam made on Mar. 6, the night before he sailed on Mar. 7. Scharnhorst, Interviews 138-43 contains the complete text, which was called “Mark Twain Gone Abroad” in the St. Louis Republic, p.28; “Mark Twain and the Reporter,” Buffalo Express, p.9.; “Mark Twain Interviewed” in the Boston Daily Globe; and most accurately, “HE IS A PERFECT LIAR” in the Chicago Daily Tribune, p.38.

April 10 Tuesday – Sam was en route to New York on the S.S. New York.

Meanwhile, Livy wrote to Sam from Paris:

My own darling: Three days since you sailed away from us. I have been so desperately sorry that I did not get a dispatch or something to you, but I love you just as tenderly as if I had. …

April 10 Wednesday – Joe Twichell wrote to Sam sending an address of a N.Y. boarding house (Mrs. Rufus McHard, 61 West 17th St.) advising Sam to apply some time in advance at $25 per week. Joe referred to a “longish letter” he’d sent Livy, but he didn’t want her to answer it, just to know he’d mailed it. Joe offered cheer:

April 11 Wednesday – Sam was en route to New York on the S.S. New York.

April 12 Thursday – En route to New York on the S.S. New York, Sam wrote to Orion and Mollie Clemens, reporting on each family member in Paris. He asked them to forward the letter to Pamela Moffett as he was “a poor hand to write letters.”

April 13 Friday – En route to New York on the S.S. New York at 7:30 p.m., Sam wrote to Livy:

We expect to be in New York about 10 tomorrow morning, Livy darling. I am waiting to be called to read — & the sea is increasing all the time. I am afraid I shall be alone — as was the case going over, except that Stead made some remarks. The sea was so rough that the music had to be given up. I think this sea is as rough as that one was.

April 14 Saturday – The N.Y. Times noted that the steamship New York’s arrival was a “fast winter run of 6 days, 21 hours, and 51 minutes.” Sam’s arrival was noted [Apr. 15, p.9 “Arrivals from Europe”].

At 5 p.m. in New York at the Players Club, Sam wrote to Livy that he’d arrived at 10 a.m. and found his old room ready for him at 10:30 a.m.

April 14 Sunday – In Paris at 169 rue de l’Universite, Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers.

Yours of the 2d [not extant] has come, and it is a very genuine pleasure to me to know that I am missed. I had such a good homelike time there that I missed the house and everybody in it and found it lonesome in the ship and hard to reconcile myself to the change.

April 15 Sunday – In New York at the Players Club Sam wrote to Livy at the Hotel Brighton in Paris.

April 15 Monday – Sam signed the agreement with Harper & Brothers sent by Henry M.Alden on Apr. 3 to publish JA and TS,Detective. At the foot of the third page Sam wrote,

If at any time during the serial publication of Joan of Arc my nom de plume should be appended to it as author, I am to receive, after that, $15 per 1000 words additional, thence to the end. This is the only omission I notice in the above [contract] S.L. Clemens, Paris Apl. 15/95 [MTP].

April 16 Monday – In New York Sam wrote with optimism to Livy:

April 17 Tuesday – The New York Times, p.6 ran an article from the Minneapolis Times:

The Frog Two Thousand Years Old.

A college professor recently asked Mark Twain, “How old do you suppose your jumping frog story is?”

“I know exactly,” replied Mark. “It is fifty-five years old.”

“You are mistaken,” remarked the professor. “It is more than 2,000 years old. It is a Greek story.”

April 18 Wednesday – Two copies of Tom Sawyer Abroad by Huck Finn were deposited with the U.S. Copyright Office on this day, the same day that Charles L. Webster and Co. declared bankruptcy [Hirst, “A Note on the Text” Afterword materials p.24, Oxford ed. 1996].

Henry E. Barrett, clerk for Tioga County, N.Y. Surrogate’s Court wrote to Sam, thanking him for the “many pleasant hours” the books of Mark Twain had given him from his youth on [MTP].

April – Sam’s article, “Private History of the ‘Jumping Frog’ Story” ran in the North American Review. In the article Sam addressed the issues of plagiarism and “a lady from Finland” (Baroness Alexandra Gripenberg) [Moyne 377n21]. See entry Dec. 27, 1888. Sam also criticized Madame Blanc’s translation of the tale into French, ( she would take offense). See Apr. 30 to King.

April – Harper’s Monthly Magazine began publishing serially and anonymously, Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, which ran through April 1896 [MTHHR 144n2], publishing it as a book in May 1896 with Mark Twain’s name on the spine and cover but not the title page. See Apr. 15 to Harrison, for Sam’s condition of anonymity and penalty should it be broken. See also Feb. 23 and Mar. entries.

April 19 Thursday – From the New York Times, p.9

MARK TWAIN’S COMPANY IN TROUBLE.

— — —

Publishing Firm of Charles L. Webster & Co. Financially Embarrassed.

April 2 Tuesday – On the S.S. Paris en route to Southampton, Sam wrote to Clarence C. Buel, editor of Century Magazine.

Before I left I put in nearly a whole night trying to write something for the October number; but it was only a doubtful success, so I had to pigeonhole it for a future effort.

April 20 Friday – In New York Sam wrote to Livy about his day-trip to Hartford, and about the assignment and Fred Hall:

April 20 Saturday – The New York Times, p.3 “Literary Notes,” ran the following, which shows how quickly Sam’s style was recognized by readers of PW in serial form in Harper’s Monthly:

April 21 Saturday – The London Chronicle, p.3 “The New Mark Twain” gave Tom Sawyer Abroad a mixed review:

April 22 Sunday – In New York at the Players Club Sam wrote to Livy. There was hope the company could resume business since the creditors initially seemed friendly. Sam blamed Fred Hall’s “stupid & extravagant mismanagement” as well as J.M. Shoemaker’s “fooling around so long” for the assignment. Still, he took the bright side of things, as he was usually disposed to do. He wanted to revoke Shoemaker’s privilege to sell his Paige Compositor Co.

April 23 Monday – In New York, Sam wrote Orion Clemens about the assignment of Webster & Co.

April 23 Tuesday – In Paris at 169 rue de l’Universite, Sam wrote to J. Henry Harper, about the planned Uniform Edition of his works, about a 3,000 word short, “Mental Telegraphy Again,” he was sending to Henry Loomis Nelson for Harper’s Weekly, and about a contract he was about to sign: 

April 25 Wednesday – In New York on Players Club letterhead, Sam wrote to Livy, still putting a happy face on the business failure:

April 25 Thursday – At 4 a.m. in Paris at 169 rue de l’Universite, Sam wrote to Poultney Bigelow: