December 7 Tuesday — Clemens was in Bermuda. He took daily scenic rides after school hours [Dec. 14 to Nunnally]. D. Hoffman quotes from Helen Schuyler Allen’s diary about Sam’s daily routine:
He usually spent his mornings with his books. His books and his cigars were always with him. His bed was covered with books, manuscripts, and writing materials, while at the head of his bed stood a table with all kinds of smoking paraphernalia except cigarettes. Any spare moments were spent in reading, night or day; and he often had a book with him on the chance of an unoccupied moment. Carlyle’s French Revolution, Pepys’s Diary, Kipling’s works, reference books of science, were always at hand, besides the late books of note sent him by every mail from Harper’s Brothers [136].