Vol 3 Section 1072

William Winter wrote a letter of condolence to Sam [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the envelope, quoting Winter: “ ‘There must be a life beyond.’ Wm. Winter. Let us hope not.”

June 30 Thursday – The Clemens party was en route in the Prince Oscar from Naples to New York.

Sam’s notebook: “ Clara keeps her bed, & cannot bear to see any stranger. / The weather is beautiful, the sea is smooth & luminously blue” [NB 47 TS 13].

And, under the printed month-end notes heading right after this entry, he wrote: “In my life there have been 68 Junes—but how vague & colorless 67 of them are, contrasted with the deep blackness of this one!” [ibid.].

Sebastiano V. Cecchi wrote to Sam.

I confirm mine of yesterday and have received your two letters of the same date.

I have telegraphed today, care of H.H. Rogers, this: “Claim documents casket offices of Hamburger-American Line New York” which I confirm.

This upon the notice received from their office at Genoa, intimating that those documents had been sent direct to New York. They didn’t say so, but it is easy to see that they had forgotten to hand those documents to the Capt. of the Prince Oscar, as they had been directed to do [MTP]. Note: Cecchi enclosed a statement of Sam’s account at the Haskard Bank.

Eleanor V. Hutton (Mrs. Laurence Hutton) wrote to Sam that he’d been in her thoughts and she hoped to see him soon [MTP].

Francis B. Keene of the US Consular Service wrote to Sam, sending Livy’s death certificate, which was a duplicate of one presented to him at the time of the casket’s shipment. “It must have been given to the captain of the ship” [MTP]. Sam wrote on the bottom, 1. What became of the original? / 2. The captain never saw it—he told me so in Naples.”

July – Review of Reviews (NY) published a portrait of Mark Twain, “From a photograph recently taken in Italy,” p. 122 [Tenney 39].

Munsey’s Magazine ran an anonymous article, “Mark Twain in Italy—In his Florentine villa he is still taking on the copyright question,” p. 601. Tenney: “A rather general account, citing an interview in which he spoke of Mary Baker Eddy and the copyright law; details of publication are not given” [Tenney: “A Reference Guide Sixth Annual Supplement,” American Literary Realism, Spring 1982 p. 10].

Neeley’s Popular Library (Magazine) for July featured Mark Twain’s portrait on the cover and more of Will M. Clemens’ unauthorized work [eBay item 400168228582, Nov. 3, 2010]. See insert.

The Phrenological Journal of this month contained an article comparing facial features of several famous men, including Ben

Franklin, Theodore Roosevelt, Grover Cleveland, Seth Low, Rev. Bishop Potter, Alton Brooks Parker, and Mark Twain. The article’s title reveals its contents: “How a Man’s Career Shows Itself on His Face,” p. 205-212.

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