Vol 3 Section 0242

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. Mollie Dunham and Sally Dunham were “far from well”—he admonished Sam to “hurry back, Mark and Livy, or we’ll all be gone.” Joe pasted the following newspaper clipping (likely from the Hartford Times or the Courant) of a humorous anecdote about Col. Andrew S. Burt and said, “You remember this Andy Burt. He was commandant of a post you visited when you were starting off on your trip around the World. He had been a Brigadier General in the late war; but is now Colonel again.”

The Literary Digest is authority for the following: Soon after Andy Burt was made colonel of the Twenty-first colored regiment he informed his men, then at Chickamauga, that they must play ball an hour every day in order to get hardened up. “And while we are playing,” said he, “remember that I’m not Colonel Burt, but simply Andy Burt.” During the first game the colonel lined out what was a sure home run. “Run, Andy, run, you tallow-faced, knock-kneed son of a gun,” yelled a greasy black soldier at the coaching line. The colonel stopped at first base, got another player to take his place, put on his uniform, and announced: “I am Colonel Burt until further orders” [MTP]. Note: see entries on Burt in Vol. II.

October 14 Friday – The Clemens family left Kaltenleutgeben, and moved into the Hotel Krantz in Vienna [NB 40 TS 47].

October 15 Saturday – The New York Times, Oct. 30, p. 7, “Coffee Houses In Vienna…Mark Twain’s Warm Eulogy,” with dateline Oct. 15:

VIENNA. Oct. 15.—In a recent magazine article Mark Twain pays a glowing tribute to Vienna coffee. He calls it “that unapproachable luxury—that sumptuous coffee-house coffee, compared with which all European coffee and all American hotel coffee is mere fluid poverty.” To those unacquainted with the deliciousness of the coffee Mark Twain has in mind, this may seem a sweeping statement, but it nevertheless is true. For coffee is the popular beverage of the Viennese, just as beer is the popular beverage of the Muencheners, and in Vienna coffee-houses are as numerous as beer gardens and restaurants in the beer drinking centre of Bavaria.

….

The cafes also serve as a place of work for many people. Commercial travelers, when visiting the city, may often be seen seated at the tables in the coffee houses, engaged in summing up the result of their day’s business or writing letters, and it is not an unusual thing to see artists busied in sketching street scenes from the broad windows of these congregating places. In connection with this custom which the Austrians have working over a cup of coffee, the Viennese relate that Mark Twain may frequently be found in a certain large café on the Ringstrasse plying his pencil over page after page of his fat notebook. From this the Austrians strongly suspect that the American humorist is preparing some fun of which they will be the subject. But in justice to them it is well to add that they will enjoy whatever he may write as much as Americans or English; perhaps more so, for, as a rule, they take criticisms, and especially Mark Twain’s criticisms, in good faith.

Note: The English had their 5 o’clock tea, while the Viennese chose 4 o’clock as their social hour for coffee, and packed the cafes, especially in winter. Not only coffee was served, so was warmth and a variety of newspapers. Patrons were encouraged to lounge. Coffee was served in a variety of forms, many unknown in other countries, including:

Schwarzer: Strong black coffee. A kleiner Schwarzer is the equivalent of an espresso; a grosser

Schwarzer is a double shot. Also called a Mokka (Moccha). Kapuziner: Cappucino. Brauner: Coffee

with a dash of milk or cream. Goldener: Coffee with milk; “regular coffee.” Mélange: Equal amounts

of milk and coffee with froth. Kaffee Crème: Coffee with a miniature pitcher of milk on the side.

Verlängter: Coffee with hot water added. Einspänner: Coffee in a glass with a hefty dollop of

SLC used mourning border for most letters from Susy’s death on, then from Livy’s death on.