March 4 Friday — In Hamilton, Bermuda Sam wrote to Albert B, Paine in Redding, Conn.
Dear Paine; / The statement of your stewardship for the month of Feb. is startling & gratifying, It is a good deal of a contrast with Miss Lyons constantly recuring $3400 a month for the past few years. Another contrast is the House Money. It shows a prodigious descent from $400 a month to practically nothing. It does really look as if you can run Stormfield at $10 000 a year. It will be a fine day & very satisfactory when that shall prove to be true,
Of course I am glad Ashcroft’s suit has failed But his law expenses never cost him anything: he stole the money from me.
I do not grudge the money Jean spent on the farm. I would not grudge it if it were five times as much. It gave her the happiest eight months she ever spent in her life.
The first of May the bank balance will be $25 000 or $30 000 & I am moved to tell you what to purchase with it, but I refrain. I will leave that to the Mark Twain Co.
This is a hurried note written at night to catch the steamer in the morning, & mainly to praise your Feb. exhibit, If I need to write more I can do it later at my leisure, as ever / S, L. C. / per HSA [MTP].
Albert Bigelow Paine wrote from Redding to Clemens:
I am sending you some tobacco, asked for by Claude in his letter to Katy.—I have put in some of the Durham, too, as you usually use that in the mixture. I should have mixed it for you, but thought you might have a new combination by this time.
I’m sorry to hear about your bronchitis, What are you doing for it? Have you an inhaler over there? / Of course you will see Mr & Mrs Collier before this reaches you. They sailed, according to the Times, on Wednesday, ...
It’s too bad about Jervis’s organ co,, but I don’t believe you could save it. Too much money would be required, and you have had your share of saving things, already.
I’ve written Henderson that you are in no condition to write letters of any kind, and let him down as gently as possible.
Harpers sent the $1500 cheque today, but the big royalty balance, due Mar. 1, has not come along yet. I suppose it will be here soon. Mr. Nash will be along with his $6000—in a few days, no doubt.
Everything is going very smoothly. The hens have begun to shed eggs at the rate of 18 to 20 a day, so they are more than self-supporting... [MTP]. Note: Archibald Henderson.