December 17 Monday – At 169 rue de l’Université in Paris, Sam finished his Dec. 16 to Rogers.
Yours containing Cole’s and Paige’s letters to Brusnahan came to my bed just before I got up. By George, that wolf does seem to be approaching my door again! I wish he would apply somewhere where he hasn’t worn out his welcome. [Note: Charles J. Cole, Hartford Atty.].
December 21 Friday – In Paris, Sam sent a cablegram to H.H. Rogers:
Can you delay final action one month / Clemens [MTHHR 108].
Note: Sam explained his cable in his Dec. 22 to Rogers. Likely Rogers had cabled (not extant) that the Paige typesetter was judged a final failure at the Chicago Herald.
H.H. Rogers also wrote to Sam, the letter not extant but mentioned in Sam’s Jan. 2, 1895 to Rogers.
December 22 Saturday – At 169 rue de l’Université in Paris, Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers, shocked by the final failure of the typesetter:
December 25 Tuesday – Christmas – Sam inscribed a copy of PW to Mary B. Willard, the Berlin school teacher for Clara: To Mrs. Mary B. Willard / Merry Christmas / & best wishes from / Mark Twain / Paris, 1894 [MTP].
December 26 Wednesday – Frank M. Scott, president of The Century Co. wrote to Sam, having received a letter from a Mr. F. Fauveau of Paris, asking permission to translate and publish The £1,000,000 Bank-Note and Other New Stories in French. Scott asked Sam to communicate with Fauveau on the matter. See Jan. 7, 1895 letter to Chatto, forwarding the letter and chore to them, since such permission was under their authority [MTP].
December 27 Thursday – At 169 rue de l’Université in Paris, Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers. Evidently another letter had arrived from Rogers (not extant) for Sam answered:
December 3 Monday – Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish author died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Samoa.
December 30 Sunday – The New York Times, p.2 in a display ad for the North American Review, listed January’s issue, headed by Mark Twain’s, “What Paul Bourget Thinks of Us.”
This is a witty and trenchant rejoinder, in the famous humorist’s best style, to the Frenchman’s criticisms of Americans and American institutions now appearing in “Outre Mer.”
December 31 Monday
December 5 Wednesday – The London Morning Post in “Literary Notes” p.6:
Having provided a grievous disappointment in Tom Sawyer Abroad, Mark Twain has produced, in Pudd’nhead Wilson, a book which must add considerably to its author’s reputation. Even the most devoted lover of Mark Twain’s writings could not have anticipated that he would produce a work of such strength and such serious interest as this [Budd, Contemporary Reviews 359].
The Glasgow Herald p.10:
December 7 Friday – At 169 rue de l’Université in Paris, Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers, confessing his mood prevented him from working on JA:
December 8 Saturday – At 169 rue de l’Université in Paris, the Clemenses had a dinner party. Sam “sat up till midnight without observable fatigue.” He wrote of the event but did not list guests in his Dec. 9 to Rogers.
December 9 Sunday – At 169 rue de l’Université in Paris, Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers, responding to his Nov. 30 letter.
Yours of Nov. 30 has just arrived. I shall welcome the Kipling poem. There were good things in Riley’s book, but you have noticed, of course, that there’s considerable padding in it, too.
Eight Atlantic Ocean Crossings
New York to Southampton and Le Havre: SS New York
March 7, 1894 – Sam sailed on the SS New York for Southampton and Le Havre [MTHHR 23].
March 8 , 1894 – At sea on the SS New York,
February 1 Friday – Andrew Chatto sent Sam the London address of Max O’Rell (Paul Blouët) and advised that even though Max was in America, letters sent would be forwarded. Chatto acknowledged receipt of the American edition of PW and was sorry he did not have time to include the Twins story in their edition, but hoped to use it “before long” [MTP].
February 12 Tuesday – At 169 rue de l’Université in Paris Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers.
February 14 Thursday – An autographed theatre program for the Young People’s Society of Christian Endeavor 17 Rue St., Florentin, Paris, France was auctioned by Brunk Auctions, Asheville, N. Carolina on eBay on Jan. 8, 2006 (Item 6590792883). The program advertised “Fifteen Minutes with Mark Twain.” The content of those minutes was not given, but there were two parts of the program, the first with six performances and the second with seven. Sam was first up on the second part, and signed “Truly Yours Mark Twain” under his listing.
February 15 Friday – At 169 rue de l’Université in Paris, Sam wrote to Elizabeth H. Colt, commenting on the 52 page A Memorial to Caldwell Hart Colt: 1858-1894. “Colly” Colt, her son, died on Jan. 21, 1894.
February – As early as Feb. 3 in a letter to Rogers, Sam was planning and discussing a world tour. The plans evolved over the spring and were not finalized until late May, with J.B. Pond acting as manager for the North American leg and Robert Sparrow Smythe of Melbourne handling the down-under leg. After the death of Susy, Clara Clemens recalled her father saying to her mother:
February 2 Saturday – Sam & Livy’s 25th Wedding Anniversary. At 169 rue de l’Université in Paris, Sam gave Livy a new five-franc piece that she would frame, which symbolized their reduced financial condition. “Nobody else put up anything, all the family but me being poor” [Feb. 3 to Rogers]. Sam dedicated a copy of JA to Livy:
1870 TO MY WIFE 1895
OLIVIA LANGDON CLEMENS
February 20 Wednesday – Frederick Douglass, American ex-slave and author, friend of the Langdon family, died of a heart attack or stroke in Washington D.C. Sam met Douglass in 1869 while lecturing in Rhode Island, and wrote to Livy that Douglass had “a grand face.” See Dec. 15, 1869 and other entries in Vol. I.
February 22 Friday – At 169 rue de l’Université in Paris, Sam wrote to Franklin G. Whitmore, heading the letter, “Birthington’s Washday/95”. Sam supposed that John and Alice Day had taken the Clemens house in Hartford for rent because Sam had received no cable otherwise from Day.
In three hours I leave for Havre & New York.
February 23 Saturday – The S.S. New York sailed from Havre, France with Sam aboard. The ship stopped in Southampton and sailed for New York. MTHHR, p.132 offers the following exposition of this trip back to the US:
February 26 Tuesday – In Hartford attorney Henry C. Robinson, in the matter of renting the Clemenses Hartford house, wrote a follow up letter to his Feb. 15 to John C. Day, stating that Day, in Robinson’s judgment, wouldn’t want to rent the barn, so that $800 would be sufficient rent for the six-month period in question [Stowe-Day Library; 1981 copy from Tenney].
February 3 Sunday – At 169 rue de l’Université in Paris, Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers, announcing that the day before was their silver wedding anniversary. “About the end of January” Sam had written to Henry M. Stanley asking for the name of Stanley’s lecture agent (Robert Sparrow Smythe) in Melbourne [Feb. 12 to Rogers] about a possible world tour.
February 7 Thursday – In Paris Sam booked passage on the S.S. New York for Feb. 23 as planned, with a return for Mar. 27. He also engaged passage for the entire family in the same ship for May 18. In the evening Sam completed revisions on JA [Feb. 8 to Rogers]. Note: the family left on May 11, unsure for some time which date they could make.