March 2 Monday – In Jaipur, Sam was ill in bed. Clara also ill. During his convalescence Sam consulted George Robert Aberigh-Mackay’s Serious Reflections and Other Contributions, etc. (1881), calling it this “brilliant little book…the beset & delightfulest work in its line that I have seen in many a day.” The book concerned rank and prerogatives of Indian royalty [Gribben 5-6].
March 3 Tuesday – In Jaipur, Sam noted that “Clara & her mother vaccinated” [NB 36 TS 55]. Parsons notes that smallpox broke out in Delhi and Bombay, thus the precaution [“Sightseer” 93 notes].
March 4 Wednesday – In Jaipur, Sam ill in bed. Clara also ill. Sam’s notebook:
Neat little hotel, kept by 9 Indian brothers, & wonderfully noisy….Mr. Aklom looked in, this morning, from Ajmere — his wife is not well. Brought an armful of books. Col. Jacob sent very fine oranges & bananas [NB 36 TS 54-5].
March 5 Thursday – In Jaipur, Sam and Clara recovering.
March 6 Friday – In Jaipur, Sam had recovered enough to ride into town, to “the city of victory,” founded by Maharajah Jai Singh II in 1728. Parsons writes,
March 7 Saturday – In Jaipur (which Sam spelled “Jeypore”) Sam wrote to Mr. Acklom and A.J. Acklom, thanking them for two books and a poem sent. Sam divulged that Carlyle Smythe was still confined to his bed, so they didn’t know just when they’d move on [MTP].
Sam then wrote a second letter to Mr. Acklom.
March 8 Sunday – In Jaipur the Clemenses, especially Carlyle Smythe, were recuperating.
March 9 Monday – In Jaipur Sam started and signed a letter taken down by Livy to an unidentified man, whose invitation had reached the Clemenses too late to accept. Sam explained there had been illness in his party but that they hoped to get to Lahore on Mar. 15 and leave there on Mar. 18. The invitation was evidently for accommodations.
March 10 Tuesday – In Jaipur, Livy began a letter to daughter Jean that she finished Mar. 12.
Jean Darling: / We are having a very quiet, restful time here. Papa was not well at first. [Ahluwalia 46]
Livy wrote to Chatto & Windus: “Will you kindly send to me at Natal, South Africa a copy of ‘Punch’ for Jan. 4th ?” She wrote they’d heard there was a pleasant article about Sam in it [MTP].
March 11 Wednesday – The Clemens party was in Jaipur waiting for all to be well enough to travel.
March 12 Thursday – In Jaipur Sam wrote to Richard Watson Gilder to inform him of a book on Indian architecture being made available under Colonel Jacob’s supervision and funded by the Maharajah in Jaipur.
With a fine liberality the Maharajah proposes to give this costly book to public institutions, and my idea in writing this note is to convey the fact to our art-schools and universities in America. I quote:
March 13 Friday – At 7 p.m. in Jaipur at the Kaiser-i-Hind Hotel, Sam wrote another notice to Mr. Bickers, the station master, that this time they would really leave for Delhi the following evening (Mar. 14). He didn’t anticipate another change of plans but if there were he would notify. Significantly, he listed Livy and Clara, along with himself and Carlyle G.
March 14 Saturday – The Clemens party was delayed one more day in Jaipur due to Sam having some additional health problems. As he wrote H.H. Rogers on Mar. 15, “I was going to start last night for Lahore but wasn’t yet in condition” [MTHHR 199].
March 15 Sunday – H.H. Rogers, probably after reading of Sam’s “serious illness” in the N.Y. newspapers, wired Sam with an offer of support (wire not extant), and also cabled Major Samuel Comfort in Bombay to inquire on Sam’s condition [MTHHR 201]. Sam responded from Jaipur before leaving that city at 6 p.m.:
March 16 Monday – The Clemens party arrived in Delhi at half-past midnight. They stayed with Mr. and Mrs. Burne of the Bank of Bengal, “in the great old mansion built by a rich orientalized Englishman” [Ahluwalia 19; NB 36 TS 57].
March 17 Tuesday – The Clemens party was in Delhi, guests of Mr. and Mrs. Burne. Parsons writes,
March 18 Wednesday – The Clemens party arrived in Lahore at 5 a.m. [NB 36 TS 57]. Parsons writes,
March 19 Thursday – Susy Clemens’ 24th birthday. Sam’s notebook recorded the event:
Mch. 19. Susy’s birthday — 24 yr old. [“And we did not know it was to be her last,” added later in ink.]
March 20 Friday – Sam and Carlyle G. Smythe traveled 174 miles to Rawalpindi. Livy and Clara likely stayed behind, as the men returned to Lahore the next day. Parsons calls Rawalpindi the “most heavily garrisoned of British Indian military stations” [“MT India” 92]. Sam’s notebook:
March 21 Saturday – At 12:45 p.m. Sam and Carlyle G. Smythe left Rawalpindi and returned the 174 miles to Lahore [Ahluwalia 19].
March 22 Sunday – At 10 a.m. the entire Clemens party left Lahore on a 1,443 mile train trip to Calcutta [Ahluwalia 19].
March 23 Monday – A travel day on the cars for the Clemens party, en route to Calcutta.
March 24 Tuesday – The Clemens party reached Howrah and crossed the Hooghly River by way of a floating bridge, arriving in Calcutta at sunrise. They took rooms at the Hotel Continental [Parsons “MT India” 92; NB 36 TS 59].
March 25 Wednesday – In Calcutta at the Hotel Continental, Clara Clemens was confined to her room by a touch of malarial fever. Both cholera and malaria were rampant in the city. Sam had recovered from the trip enough to submit to an interview by a journalist from The Indian Daily News, which ran Mar. 26.
March 26 Thursday – At 7 a.m. the Clemens party sailed from Calcutta on the S.S. Wardha bound for Ceylon. Before reaching the sea, however, they had to negotiate the Hooghly River. Sam’s notebook:
March 26. At anchor at Garden Reach all night. When wind blew in, icy cold; the moment it stopped, blistering hot & mosquitoes. We all went up & slept on deck….