Vol 3 Section 0976

“Why do we yell so? Is it peculiarly American to converse in the tones of a jackass? Our women are as loud as the men. The Italians are massed like bees, forward & aft. We have 2 ‘ladies’ who make more noise than all these 1400. / Passed the Azores at 8” [TS 29].

October 31 Saturday – The Clemens family was at sea on the Princess Irene en route for Genoa, Italy.

Sam’s notebook: “ For a whole blessed week no Sam Parks, no Bill Devery, no strikes, no news.” [NB 46

TS 26]. Note: Boxed entry. Bill Delivery.

Harper & Brothers sent Clemens a Oct. 31 statement showing $1,854.48 royalties due for single book sales (not sets) [1903 Financials file MTP].

November –This issue of the Ladies’ Home Journal contained Thomas E. Marr’s “Three Famous Authors Outdoors, p. 36-7, with four of the photographs Marr took of Sam Clemens with a porcelain cat, and John T. Lewis at Quarry Farm. Tenney: “On p.1 of this issue MT is quoted as holding Lewis ‘in high and grateful regard’ for having saved the lives of several members of his family 27 years ago, and praising the porcelain cat for not disturbing his manuscripts” [Tenney: “A Reference Guide Fourth Annual Supplement,” American Literary Realism, Autumn 1980 p. 174].

November 1 Sunday – Sam’s notebook: “These chattering, cackling squaws & monkeys will all be in hell in a hundred years. There is something pleasant in the thought. / The mission of Alexander Dowie (‘Elijah II’) is a bad failure in New York” [NB 46 TS 29]. Note: John Alexander Dowie (1847-1907), Scottish evangelist and faith healer, founder of Zion, Illinois. In 1903 he held a two-week evangelistic healing campaign at Madison Square Garden. Dowie declared himself “Elijah the Restorer” or Elijah III, and dressed in Old Testament priest garb.

November 2 Monday – The Clemens family arrived at Gibraltar. Sam’s following NB entry states they arrived at 7 a.m. and left at 2 p.m., the last leg by train from Genoa to Florence, Italy.

Sam’s notebook: “Due at Gibraltar, 10 days from N.Y; 3 days to Naples; then one day to Genoa. / At supper the band played Cavalleria Rusticana which is forever associated in my mind with Susy. I love it better than any other, but it breaks my heart. /Arr. G. [Gibraltar] 7 a.m., left at 2 p.m.” [NB 46 TS 29; also MTB 1209]. On Nov. 3 Sam entered: “Saw at Gibraltar, Michael Beñunes, our guide of 36 years ago—still the most distinguished-looking man in that town. He took Jackson, Dan, Jack, Miss Newell & me into Spain—all dead now but me, I believe. / To-day is election-day in New York” [NB 46 TS 29]. Note: Cavalleria Rusticana (Rustic chivalry) is a one-act opera by Pietro Mascagni, first performed on May 17, 1890 in Rome; it was a sensation.

George Gregory Smith wrote to Livy, thanking her “A thousand thanks” for her “very kind letter of October 20th”, and telling of the Villa Quarto. “I saw the liveryman this morning and have engaged a strong pair of horses, a landau, a coupe and a Victoria to be ready on your arrival here, together with a good coachman” subject to her approval. He gave prices and details about servants [MTP].

November 3 Tuesday – The Clemens family was at sea on the Princess Irene en route for Naples, Italy (Some secondary sources report this as the arrival day for the Clemens family at the Villa Reale di Quarto, in Castello, outside of Florence, but the NB entries contradict this. The NY Times article announcing Livy’s death would give their arrival date in Florence as Nov. 8 [June 7, 1904, p.7].

Sam’s notebook: “at sea. / These squaws keep up their clatter under our ports, quite indifferent to the fact that they are torturing an invalid & making rest & sleep impossible for her” [NB 46 TS 23].

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