May 2 Thursday – At 1410 W. 10th in N.Y.C., Sam wrote to W.L. Howard, thanking for the invitation but declining as he was no longer in the lecture field. After his signature he added, “If I were not permanently tired of travel, I would make that trip; but I hope I have made my last journey” [MTP].

Sam also wrote to Laurence Hutton.

This telegram came yesterday evening. Explain it to me; I have not answered it, as I didn’t know how. If it is political, it is inviting Satan to join the Church—for I am a mugwump.

Of course, at bottom, I smell a jest in it. Sad experience has made me chary of mysterious telegrams; telegrams which do not explain themselves; telegrams which are sparing of details. It is a cold week when I do not get one from somewhere or other. I used to answer them.

Tell me about it. I do not want to offend; but I am a burnt child, & I do not take as many chances as I used to did. (Used to done, I mean.)

Madam’s gone to Baltimore on a visit.

The mice are at play [MTP].

Note: this catalogued as “after 16 October 1900,” but Livy was in New York shortly after the family’s return in 1900 and not likely to take such a trip so soon after the voyage; moreover, she stayed at the Earlington Hotel during Sam’s trip to Hartford for the funeral of Charles Dudley Warner shortly after their return in 1900. 1901 however, seems to be a better fit, but there is no record of her making such a trip “after Oct. 16,” in1901 either. See NB entries for May 1 and May 3 , which puts her trip, and thus this letter, dated only “Thursday” to this date, as well as a letter from Livy to Harriet Whitmore, written from Baltimore on May 2. Hutton’s telegram is not extant.