January 3 Monday - Albert B. Paine wrote to William H. Allen in Bermuda, advising them of Sam’s preferences during his stay there. Paine’s protectiveness of Clemens is quite evident:
For Mr. Clemens, I want to say that he is more than anxious to go to your house [Bay House] during his stay in Bermuda, for he does not like hotel life... but he feels he could not take advantage of this generosity on your part for any length of time without some compensation....
Now, as to other matters; you have already realized, of course, that Mr. Clemens has to be protected from the great number of people who wish to use him as the means of their own social advancement, or as an ornament for their drawing-rooms and dinner tables.…
He is also to be guarded from business propositions of every sort—schemes, plans, investments, and the like.
These things have been his undoing through a long period of years....He does not wish ever to make an investment again, But, as I have said, he is impulsive, enthusiastic, and likely to fall in with the suggestion of a plan which would only mean discomfort, worry and nightmare for him later on, and he has had enough of such things...
You have, of course, already realized that Mr. Clemens’s nature, like his genius, is an unusual one. His likes and dislikes are erratic, quickly formed, and like railroad time-tables, “subject to change without notice.” The man or woman he is apparently delighted with today, he may not care to see tomorrow at all, and vice versa...
Paine also alerted the Allens that he was sending along Sam’s value [sic valet] , Claude Benchotte, with instructions and medicine should Sam have severe angina. If it wasn’t possible for the Allens to put him up, Sam would try as best he could to stay in the Hotel [MTAq 143-4].
Sam’s new guestbook:
| Name | Address | Date | Remarks |
| Mr. & Mrs. Loomis | Jan, 3, 1910 | ||
| Charles T. Lark | New York |
Helen Keller wrote from Wrentham to offer condolences [MTP]. Note: “ans / Jan 26/10”
Augustus W. Oliver wrote from Long Beach, Calif. to offer condolences [MTP].
Helen A. Perry wrote from Quincy, Mass to offer condolences [MTP].
Arda Bates Rorison wrote from NYC to offer condolences [MTP].
Dora Wheeler Keith wrote from NYC to offer condolences [MTP].
Harriet E, Whitmore wrote from Hartford to offer condolences and to advise him “do not try to revise the past issues about Isabel Ashcroft...” [MTP].
Ernest J. Clarke wrote from San Francisco to offer condolences and to praise Clemens [MTP].