May 2 Monday – George B. Harvey wrote from NY to Sam.
“I have just returned from a hurried trip to London where I remained two weeks and, like the man in the poker game did not have an opportunity to turn my head to spit. I saw Howells several times and he is looking very well….My great sorrow was that I could not sneak out the time to come down to Florence…” He enclosed a few clippings to make Sam smile (not in the file) [MTP].
Hélène Elisabeth Picard wrote to Sam, sorry to hear about his illness and more trouble with Livy. She had also been reading some criticism in The Booklover’s: “Mark Twain, Made in America,” and she wrote:
I am satisfied with the praises, but I don’t like the criticism. I wish people would only write about what they are able to understand…but then, the editors could take to hoeing in the fields, except one or two who could do all the work. The idea of misunderstanding the “Yankee,” one of my favorites; the idea of saying “Joan” is dull! Well, Mr. Parrott has truly deserved his name. I’d like to tell him how we, French, (I mean, those who read English) appreciate “Joan of Arc”; and we ought to know, I suppose [MTP].