June 21, 1904 Tuesday

June 21 TuesdaySam’s notebook: “Grozzini lives in the city. Goes to Mrs. Ross at 10 fr & cab hire—say 16 fr per visit. At night, 25 fr. / [Horiz. Line separator] / All arrived with the baggage at the Hotel de la Ville. First day of the sad journey home” [NB 47 TS 13].

At the Hotel de la Ville in Florence Sam sent the following form letter to those who had expressed sympathy for the loss of his wife:

TO WHOM THIS SHALL COME:

FOR WHAT YOU HAVE SAID, I THANK YOU MORE THAN I CAN TELL. IF I COULD, I WOULD THANK WITH MY OWN HAND AND PEN EACH FRIEND WHO HAS REMEMBERED ME AND MINE WITH A KINDLY WORD OF SYMPATHY IN THIS HEAVY TIME, BUT I AM NOT ABLE TO DO IT. THEREFORE I BEG THAT THIS GENERAL ACKNOWLEDGMENT MAY BE ACCEPTED AS A TOKEN OF THE GRATITUDE, UNEXPRESSED & INEXPRESSIBLE, WHICH IS IN MY HEART.

S.L. CLEMENS

FLORENCE, ITALY JUNE 1904.

To most he added a line or two. To these he did not (beyond his signature on some): Dr. Titus M. Coan, Robert K. Mackey, Brander Matthews, Theodore Weld Stanton, Elizabeth S. Ward. To the following persons he offered a short note:

Thomas Bailey Aldrich and Lillian W. Aldrich: “…with the best love of those that are left.”

Moncure D. Conway: “I am glad you knew her, dear Conway; for now you know how much we have lost.”

Laura Hawkins Frazer: “It is dear and good of you, Laura, friend of childhood, to say these kind words, and I thank you out of a heart that is hurt beyond healing. Sam.”

John M. Hay: “I am grateful to you & Mrs. Hay for your love & sympathy, & I know it is as you say: that I must bear this burden alone. But I am grown old, & it is heavy—let the time be mercifully short!”

Grace King: “I send my love, Grace King—& hers who is gone.”

Samuel E. Moffett and Mary E. Moffett: “With the love of those that are left.”

Muriel M. Pears: “We are crushed, we are in the dust. I cannot write, but I thank you for your kind good words, dear Miss Muriel.”

Eduard Pötzl: “Good-bye, dearl Potzl, if we meet no more.”

Percy Spalding and Mrs. Percy Spalding: “She had a deep regard for you & Mr. Spalding, & she never forgot your kindnesses.”

Abbott Handerson Thayer and Emma B. Thayer: “I thank you out of my heart dear Mr. & Mrs. Thayer.”

To an unidentified: “We that are left, send love.”

To an unidentified: “Her last regret was that she had left Riverdale.”

To an unidentified: “You have said the true word: I did worship her” [All MTP].

Day By Day Acknowledgment

Mark Twain Day By Day was originally a print reference, meticulously created by David Fears, who has generously made this work available, via the Center for Mark Twain Studies, as a digital edition.   

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