Dolmetsch writes:
For the Clemens family the countess [Pauline Fürstin von Metternich] did two important favors. She introduced them to Dr. Wilhelm Winternitz, whose Kaltwasserkur (hydrotherapy) was then all the rage among the Austrian aristocracy as a cure for anything from lumbago to cancer, and found them a house, the Villa Paulhof, to rent near hers at Winternitz’s Kuranstalt in Kaltenleutgeben….
May 20 Friday – At the Hotel Metropole in Vienna, Austria, Sam wrote to Siegmund Schlesinger.
“We go to Kaltenleutgeben to-day to see if we shall like it. If we find it pleasant I think the family will be content to spend the summer there instead of going to a more distant place.”
Sam gave their new address as the “Paulhof” Kaltenleutgeben [MTP]. Note: Countess Pauline Fürstin von Metternich found the Villa Paulhof (insert) for the Clemenses [Dolmetsch 134-5].
Kaltenleutgeben – From May 20 to Oct. 14 1898. Dolmetsch writes:
May 21 Saturday – The London Spectator p.735 reviewed FE. Tenney: “It would have been easier to write a straightforward travel book than to write five hundred pages of uneven humor, and it would have given greater pleasure to the reader. ‘To be just, however, there are good chapters here and there, and a few pages of very fair fun; and although the book is not likely to add to the author’s reputation, it is readable and sometimes entertaining’” [Tenney: “A Reference Guide Second Annual Supplement,” American Literary Realism, Autumn 1978 p.
May 24 Tuesday – At the Villa Paulhof in Kaltenleutgeben near Vienna, Austria, Sam wrote to an unidentified man, thanking him for his kind offer to send him some of his books—he would “now & then take advantage.” Sam had forgotten the address of the artist the man had inquired about (not extant) but Ludwig Kleinberg owned the picture and had given Sam permission for it to be reduced and used on postcards. He sent Kleinberg’s address [MTP].
May 26 shortly before – At the Villa Paulhof in Kaltenleutgeben Sam wrote to Joe Twichell:
May 27 Friday – At the Villa Paulhof in Kaltenleutgeben, Austria, Sam wrote to Dr. Thomas S. Kirkbride, who had mentioned a maid in his service at this boarding house (pension). The Clemenses needed a cook and would “pay her expenses going & coming” from Vienna [MTP]. See also Livy to Kirkbride, May 26. On May 31 Sam reported to Rogers that they had a cook, so it may be this feeler was productive.
Sam’s notebook:
May 30 Monday – At the Villa Paulhof in Kaltenleutgeben near Vienna, Austria, Sam wrote to Siegmund Schlesinger, who evidently had asked for more time, likely on their play collaborations. Sam wrote him to “Take another month—and don’t hurry; hurrying doesn’t help a sick man to get well” [MTP].
May 31 Tuesday – In Kaltenleutgeben near Vienna, Austria, Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers. First, he was “very glad indeed” to learn that Rogers’ daughter, Cara Broughton (Mrs. Urban H. Broughton), was now healthy, with no “peril” to her life.
October 1 Saturday – In Kaltenleutgeben, Austria, Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers, thinking he’d been indiscreet in writing J. Henry Harper on Aug. 30 (see entry).
October 10 Monday – In Kaltenleutgeben, Austria, Sam wrote to Edward W. Bok, editor, Ladies’ Home Journal.
A good deal of the Autobiography is written, but I never work on it except when a reminiscence of some kind crops up in a strong way & in a manner forces me; so it is years too early yet to think of publishing— except now & then at long intervals a single chapter, maybe. I intend to do that. Someday. But it would not answer for your magazine.
October 11 Tuesday – In Kaltenleutgeben, Austria, Sam wrote to the Paul E. Wirt Fountain Pen Co., Bloomsburg, Penn. with what appears to have been a prepared testimonial:
With a single Wirt Pen I have earned the family’s living for many years. With two, I could have grown rich. / Mark Twain [MTP].
Note: See insert: 1904 advertisement claimed that Sam used the Wirt pen for 25 years, or since 1879.
October 12 Wednesday – In Kaltenleutgeben, Austria, Sam wrote to Chatto & Windus, to give them his new address at the Hotel Krantz, NeuerMarket, Vienna. “We go there tomorrow” [MTP]. Note: The family did not check into the Krantz until Oct. 14 [NB 40 TS 47].
October 13 Thursday – Joe Twichell wrote to Sam, enclosing a note of thanks from Brander Matthews, to whom Joe had sent compliments from Sam. “Here is also a leaf from a recent issue of “ the Spectator” he thought interesting. “What wouldn’t I give for a few afternoons of our pedestrian company out on the country roads and into the autumnal woods just now beginning to turn.” He added that Sam’s article in the last Forum on play-acting was perfect.
October 14 Friday – The Clemens family left Kaltenleutgeben, and moved into the Hotel Krantz in Vienna [NB 40 TS 47].
October 3 Monday – In Kaltenleutgeben, Austria, Sam wrote to H.Q. Russ in Lynn, Mass. who had written (not extant) about ordering a bust of Sam done by the Russian sculptress, Theresa Fedorowna Ries.
October 5 Wednesday – Henry M. Alden for Harper & Brothers wrote to Sam:
October 7 Friday – In Kaltenleutgeben, Austria, Sam wrote to James B. Pond, asking when he saw the editor of Forum to ask about Sam’s article “About Play-Acting.” Sam had not heard back from Forum (the piece ran in the Oct. issue). He expressed hope that they would return home “just a year from now— everything promises well for that.” He also noted the passing of another old, wandering lecturer:
September 10 Saturday – Elisabeth of Bavaria (“Sisi”), Empress of Austria (1837-1898) was assassinated in Geneva by young anarchist Luigi Lucheni, who wanted to kill any royal, and had been unable to find a prince from the House of Orleans. Clemens would write on Sept. 13 to Joe Twichell of Elisabeth as, “That good and unoffending lady,” and that he was “living in the midst of world-history again.”
September 11 Sunday – Livy wrote to Susan L. Crane:
Of course all Austria is in grief over the terrible news of the assassination of he Empress. What a hideous thing it is!
September 13 Tuesday – In Kaltenleutgeben, Austria, Sam wrote to Joe Twichell [MTP].
September 14 Wednesday – In Kaltenleutgeben, Austria, Sam replied to John Y. MacAlister in London, whose recent invitation (not extant) to speak or preside at a meeting of the Savage Club in November had arrived. Sam couldn’t go unless business also demanded, for it took him six days to travel to London since he wouldn’t travel at night. And by no means would he preside:
September 17 Saturday – Sam went to the Hotel Krantz, where he watched the funeral procession of the slain Empress Elisabeth. He later wrote “The Memorable Assassination,” not published until 1917 in What Is Man? and Other Stories by Harper & Brothers. From that piece:
September – Pall Mall Magazine issue for Sept. ran “The Real Mark Twain,” p. 28-36 by Carlyle G. Smythe, Sam’s “down under” tour manager and companion in London prior to Susy’s death [Gribben 464]. Review of Reviews (London) for this month summarized Smythe’s article and quotes passages on “His Literary Tastes” [Tenney 27].
September 19 Monday – In Kaltenleutgeben, Austria, Sam wrote to John Brisben Walker, owner of Cosmopolitan.
Sure it’s the illegant conscience you’ve got, & few there be that can afford such an expensive one. Yes, the second cheque astonished—& gratified—me. I didn’t know what it was for; I merely uttered my little prayer of humble thanks & went & cashed it. Many would have thought God sent it; but I knew by the signature it was you.
September 2 Friday – In Kaltenleutgeben, Austria, Sam wrote to Edward Bok, editor of the Ladies’ Home Journal, suggesting “My Platonic Sweetheart” as suitable “for a periodical whose specialty is the fireside, the home.” It was longer than Bok had wanted and Sam’s price was $1,000, but Sam was mailing it that day—if Bok didn’t want it would he please mail it to H.H. Rogers.