Vol 3 Section 0255
Dear Mrs. Wirth:
I have cramped in all the facts but two: all the men were from the medical schools, all the
women were pupils of Letschititschky. (I don’t know how to spell it.) We had an immense time there & very jolly [MTP].
November 26 Saturday
November 27 Sunday – Livy’s 53rd birthday.
November 28 Monday
November 29 Tuesday – At the Hotel Krantz in Vienna, Austria, Sam wrote to unidentified men.
The enclosed have reached me from America.
It seems to me that your own condensed statement is sufficient, but if it needs enlargement there is an over-abundance of material in the American sketch—which is so minutely & so faithfully exact that I judge it was furnished by the Austrian police [MTP].
November 30 Wednesday – Sam’s 63rd Birthday.
At the Hotel Krantz in Vienna, Austria, Sam wrote to Auguste Wilbrandt-Baudius (Mrs. Adolf von Wilbrandt) (1843-1937), famous Austrian actress and writer. Sam was “touched” by her “eloquent words” and flowers (likely birthday wishes). Sam wished he could have heard her in a recent reading performance [MTP]. Note: The Wilbrandts frequented the salons of the Countess Wydenbruck-Esterhazy and other members of the Maestro Leschy’s inner circle. Sam would share the platform with Auguste on Mar. 8, 1899. See Dolmetsch 118.
December 1 Thursday
December 2 Friday – In Vienna, Austria, Sam wrote condolences to Mrs. Edward M. Bunce upon hearing of the death of her husband, “Ned” on Nov. 19.
It falls like a thunder-stroke, dear Mrs. Bunce, & is the heaviest I have known in my life, & the costliest loss, except our Susy’s death. It associates itself naturally with that bereavement because in some particulars Ned was nearer & dearer to the children than was any other person not of the blood. …
I knew by Livy’s face when I came out to breakfast that a disaster had befallen; but as she asked me not to read the letters at present, I did not know its nature until an hour later….
We loved him so—in our blood & bone & marrow we loved him so … [MTP].
Sam also wrote to Joe Twichell.
Dear Joe— / I will not try to talk about it, it breaks my heart. Ned Bunce was very very near & dear to me, & to all this home-circle of mine; & he was always that, from the beginning.
They have begun to fall! The charm is broken, the others will follow, now. While we are trying to imagine a Hartford without Ned Bunce in it, we are reminded to prepare to imagine a Hartford with the rest gone that made it Hartford to us… We are keeping it from the children—& shall, as long as we can [MTP].
Sam also sent an aphorism to an unidentified person: “By trying, we can easily learn to endure adversity.
Another man’s, I mean. / Truly Yours / Mark Twain / Dec. 2/98” [MTP].
SLC used mourning border for most letters from Susy’s death on, then from Livy’s death on.