February 14 Monday — In Hamilton, Bermuda Sam wrote a valentine poem to Helen S, Allen.
I know a precious little witch,
And Helen is her name,
With eyes so blue the asters say
“They bring our blue to shame;”
And cheeks so pink the eglantine,
That by the roadway blow,
Shed all their leaves when so they fail
To match the dainty glow
That steals across from ear to ear,
and down from eyes to chin,
When that sweet face betrays the thoughts
That hidden lie within,
Concerning Arthurs and their like
Who long this maid to win;
And form so classic in its grace
Of budding bust and tapering limb
And rounded hip and slender waist
And faultless features, that aghast
The sculptured marbles of the Greek
Grieving confess their chorus surpassed!
I am hers, though she’s not mine—
I’m but her loyal
Valentine [MTP].
Sam also wrote to Albert B. Paine.
Dear Paine:
Don’t you think you or Freeman could look in on Urban Broughton, President of that bank that is about a block above the Liberty National & ask him about Utah Consolidated? And what its prospects are?
My 1750 shares cost me $90,000. In one way & another it has returned me $20,000; so I could sell out for $70,000 ($40 per share), & be where I was when I first bought, about 4 years ago. I am moved to do that, & transfer the money to stocks to be chose by the Mark Twain Co., for I am very tired of Utah. Please get Broughton’s views & then put the matter into the M.T. Co’s hands, with authority to judge & act.
Yours ever
SLC,
P. S. Your letter of Feb, 10 has just arrived, & is pleasant reading. Eighty acres will be plenty for me, & will grow in value, I think.
Ashcroft will not be able to rob Lounsbury of his commission this time.
[MTP: on a separate sheet, possibly not part of this letter:]
In the five years that I have intimately known Ashcroft I have never heard him utter a single word about his past history except that his birthplace was Liverpool, that he retains his English subjectship, & that his father was a dissenting minister. He is absolutely corked-up & sealed, concerning himself. I have encountered nothing resembling this before.
I am sure he has been either a bedroom steward or a valet-—perhaps both. He knows the latter trade to perfection.
Daily during 2 years he heard us talk of Redding & the house-building, yet never once mentioned that he had lived there in his boyhood in a prominent family! The Driggs’s arrived here at the house a year ago in a motor car & “Ralph’d” him & gushed over him & took him home for a day! The first time we ever heard of them [MTP].
Charles Juillet wrote to Sam [MTP]. Note: This folder at the MTP is EMPTY & noted as such “10/7/2011”
The Union Pacific Railroad per Alex Millar wrote to note Clemens’ change of address [MTP].