Australia, 1895: DBD

October 11 Friday – Sam was finally well enough to travel, this time a seventeen-hour train ride to Adelaide. Before he left Melbourne at 4:30 p.m. he was given a farewell luncheon at the Government House, hosted by Lt. Gov. Samuel J. Way with Rev. W.H. Fitchett, Justice William Windeyer, Rev. John Watsford, parliamentarians. Jokes and cartoons appeared on this event in the Adelaide Advertiser for Oct. 12.

October 12 Saturday – The Clemens party was expected in Adelaide, Australia, but left the train at Aldgate, some 20 miles southeast of the city at 10:30 a.m. local time. They traveled twelve miles through the hilly countryside to Adelaide in an open carriage with C.A. Murphy, the American consul. In Adelaide, the Clemens party was welcomed by local gentlemen at the South Australian Club Hotel, and took rooms there.

October 13 Sunday – In Adelaide at the S. Australian Club Hotel, Sam wrote to Edward Planta Nesbit, Adelaide writer, thanking him for the book received, probably the night before.

I am grateful for the book & also for the pleasant words which you have written on the fly-leaf.

Sam added he knew Livy would take the book first to read but added a PS that since he had to go to bed for hours he was “allowed to have the book, & am reading it with keen enjoyment” [MTP].

October 14 Monday – In the afternoon in Adelaide, Sam was welcomed by about 20 city officials at the Mayor’s Parlor: Premier C.C. Kingston, R.S. Smythe, American Consul C.A. Murphy, Chief Secretary J.H. Gordon, Mr. Handyside, Alderman Tomkinson, Mayor C. Tucker, Councilor Johnson, and others. Sam responded to a toast by Mayor Tucker, complimenting Adelaide, its beautiful buildings and excellent drainage — reported by the S.

October 15 Tuesday – In Adelaide Sam lunched with the Ministry, perhaps the guest of acting-governor Samuel J. Way, the civic authorities, and the Adelaide Club, or, entertained by “Government House, the Municipality, Press and Parliament, Bench and Bar,” as reported by Geelong Advertiser, Oct. 24 [Shillingsburg, “Down Under” 15].

October 16 Wednesday – In Adelaide Sam wrote to James Sadler (1860-1935), thanking him for the book, Lyrics and Rhymes: Some Annals of Adelaide, etc. (1890) and the “most pleasant hour that we spent together.” Sam was glad to have the book, and wrote that Livy “has completed the volume by pasting the poem ‘To Mark Twain’ in it” [MTP].

October 17 Thursday – The Clemens party arrived in Horsham, Australia at 2:30 a.m. They were met by Herbert Cooke, secretary of Mechanics’ Institute, and a companion, possibly Mr. Eddie, president of that organization. The Clemenses took rooms at Lucas’ White Hart Hotel.

October 18 Friday – The Clemenses breakfasted in Horsham, Australia, with Sam commenting on weak coffee and poor accommodations [NB 34 TS 17]. They left Horsham around 11:30 a.m. by train, arriving in Stawell (40 miles from Horsham; population 5,300) about 3 p.m., thirty minutes late. Mayor Councilor H. Menzies and other councilors, met the Clemenses. Livy and Clara were taken immediately to their rooms at the Commercial Hotel, where they probably dined.

October – Sam’s notebook:

Punch (Melbourne) & Bulletin (Sydney) good papers. Good & bright cartoons in both [Gribben 462; NB 34 TS 14].

D.F. Hannigan wrote “Mark Twain as a Critic” in the Free Review p.39-43, in response to Sam’s “The Literary Offenses of Fenimore Cooper” in the July North American Review. Hannigan conceded that “Mark Twain possesses a gift which Cooper lacked” [Tenney 24].

October 19 Saturday – Sam hated the town tours he was forced to take everywhere. In Stawell, Australia he took another tour, but this one over countryside with Mayor Menzies and Harry Foster, to Great Western Vineyards, some eight miles from Stawell. Mr. and Mrs. Hans Irvine owned the winery. His notebook entry claims he met the richest woman in Australia in Stawell [NB 34 TS 17].

October 2 Wednesday – Sam gave a Melbourne performance of “Mark Twain At Home” lecture at the Bijou Theatre on Bourke Street. Sam opened the lecture by praising Australian writer Marcus Clarke. Sam’s notebook: “It was a sweater! And all because of an idiotic advertisement mixing the two lectures.” This was the No. 2 program with some added pieces. Note: Marcus Andrew Hislop Clarke (1846-1881), author of For the Term of His Natural Life (1893). Gribben writes:

October 20 Sunday – In Ballarat, Australia, Sam gave two interviews, one with J.W. Graham and the other possibly with Mr. Nivens. Sam stretched out on a hotel couch smoking both cigar and pipe, and complimented Australians as “more American than English.” The Ballarat Courier interview, “Interview with Mark Twain” Oct. 21 may be found in Scharnhorst, 240. The Ballarat Star interview, “A Chat with ‘Mark Twain,’ Impressions of Australia, also Oct.

October 21 Monday – In Ballarat, Australia Sam gave his “Mark Twain At Home” (No. 1) lecture at Mechanics’ Institute. — Reviews published Oct. 22: Ballarat Courier, Ballarat Evening Echo, Ballarat Star [Shillingsburg, “Down Under” 17].

October 22 Tuesday – In Ballarat, Australia Sam gave his “Mark Twain At Home” (No. 2) lecture at Mechanics’ Institute, and included the Australian Poem. — Reviews published Oct. 23: Ballarat Courier, Ballarat Star.

October 23 Wednesday – From FE: Got up at 6, left at 7.30; soon reached Castlemaine, one of the rich gold-fields of the early days; waited several hours for a train; left at 3.40 and reached Bendigo in an hour. For comrade, a Catholic priest [Father Henry W. Cleary (NB 34 TS 21 misspells as “Creary”) ], who was better than I was, but didn’t seem to know it — a man full of graces of the heart, the mind, and the spirit; a lovable man. He will rise. He will be a bishop some day. Later an Arch-bishop. Later a Cardinal.

October 24 Thursday – In the morning in Bendigo, the Clemens party toured the area of Lone Tree Hill with local newspaper publisher John Gregory Edwards and his wife in a Victoria carriage. In the afternoon Sam took part in a ceremony with the Mayor and city fathers, and received a keepsake booklet by Frank Fearn, a punster, poet, and artist who was “possessed of considerable literary ability.” Shillingsburg conjectures that Fearn was “Quite possibly…“Mr. Blank” in FE, ch.

October 25 Friday – The Clemens party left Bendigo at 5 a.m. and arrived in Maryborough in the afternoon. In ch. XXXI of FE Sam relates talking to a man he thought to be a minister who warned him about the bad hotel in Maryborough, and warned him with some swearing included. Upon arrival he asked the man’s friend if the man was in the ministry — “No — studying for it,” came the reply. They were met at the railroad station and driven to Town Hall for an official welcome in the Mayor’s parlor by Mayor F.J.

October 26 Saturday – The Clemens party left Maryborough at 5 a.m. and took the train through Castlemaine to Melbourne and the Spencer Street Station. They likely took rooms again at the Menzies Hotel on Latrobe Street. Sam gave a 3 p.m. matinee performance of “Mark Twain At Home” in Athenaeum Hall, Melbourne. The Melbourne Evening News ran a review of the lecture this same day.

October 27 Sunday – John H. Wagner called for the Clemenses at their hotel. They were taken to the Wagner home, a “superb house” with a most beautiful view in Malvern, a suburb of Melbourne, where they spent 24 hours [OLC to Susan Crane Nov. 24, 1895].

October 28 Monday – At the home of John H. Wagner in Malvern Sam wrote to J. Henry Harper:

October 29 Tuesday – Livy and Clara remained in Melbourne. Sam commuted from Geelong to Prahran by train, where he gave his “At Home” lecture in the 1,000 seat Town Hall to a “vast audience,” which “filled the building in every part.” He included his Australian poem (which was received with bursts of laughter) and “Punch Brothers” — a somewhat different program than Oct. 26’s matinee performance. The Prahan Telegraph reviewed the lecture on Nov.

October 3 Thursday – Near Melbourne, Clara Clemens played two piano solos at a tea given by Mrs. S. McCulloch at Toorak. Livy attended. Sam wrote to H. Walter Barrett of Falk’s Photography, asking him to remove photographs of Livy and Clara from his window [Shillingsburg, “Down Under” 12].

October 30 Wednesday – In Melbourne at the Menzies Hotel, the Clemens ladies were busy packing for the voyage to New Zealand. Frederick W. Haddon wrote to Sam inviting him to write an article. This letter is not extant, but is mentioned and responded to on Nov. 14 [Shillingsburg, “Down Under” 20].

October 31 Thursday – In Melbourne, Sam attended the wool-sales for half an hour with John H. Wagner. Sam said, “wool brokers are just like stockbrokers” [Shillingsburg, “Down Under” 20].

Sam’s notebook recorded the visit:

Oct. 31. Melbourne. Went to the wool exchange with John H. Wagner. Selling the “clip” in lots — at 6 & a farthing. When a man has the clip of 100,000 sheep to sell (6 pounds of wool to the sheep) the difference of a farthing makes a big difference — 600,000 farthings.

October 4 Friday – The Clemens party was still at the Menzies Hotel in Melbourne. Sam’s carbuncle problem caused the cancellation of a performance planned for Bendigo’s Masonic Hall. Dr. N.T. Fitzgerald froze, lanced, injected opium, and prescribed plasters for Sam’s carbuncle, which Livy dutifully applied for several weeks. Sam stayed out of the public eye and recovered enough to travel by Oct. 11 [Shillingsburg, “Down Under” 12; At Home 72].