May 26 Wednesday — In Redding, Conn. Sam wrote a postcard to Marjorie Breckenridge.
The summer is clothed in all its splendors, Marjorie dear, & it is beautiful here now. I have to go away & leave it for a while, but shall be back the middle of June, & by that time I hope you will be housed in that shady nook in the glen.
With love & good wishes / SLC [MTAq 258].
Sam also wrote to Dr. Livius Lankford of the Freemason Baptist Church in Norfolk, Va., replying to his May 1 letter (not extant). Sam had dined with the Lankfords on Apr. 5 during his visit there with H.H. Rogers. See entry.
My dear Doctor: / A discharged secretary left my matters in confusion, but I have at last found your letter of May 1st. The meal arrived, & I went down to the kitchen next morning at 7.30 & made & baked a pone or two for my breakfast, & taught the art to the cook. I have had corn-pone for breakfast ever since. I make it flat, the thickness of my hand, & brown it well; & such slabs as are left over I mend the roof with, when a slate goes missing, They are mighty solid & mighty fine-grained, but no matter, they are better than any other bread since the manna descended from heaven. I thank you ever so much for the meal, & shall certainly shout for more when it is used up.
I beg that you will remember me kindly to the three generations of the family. / Sincerely Yours /… [MTP]
Sam also wrote to Dorothy Quick in Plainfield, N.J.
Well, you dear Dorothy, where is the picture? You said you were having it taken & would send one to me—don’t you remember?
I suppose you are glad the summer has come; & certainly I am. But I must lose some of it, for I am getting ready to go away, & shall not return until the middle of June.
I hope you are well of your bronchitis by this time, & that you will be careful & not bring on another attack; for I know a great deal about that disease by experience, & if one wants to be sick or must be sick, it is best |to) try something else.
Dinner-time! & I am not hungry. / With lots of love / ... [MTP; MTAq 259].
Sam also replied to a non-extant note from Elizabeth Wallace about the death of H.H. Rogers:
It is indeed, dear Betsy, a heavy stroke. It bruised many a heart: how many we shall never know, for his helpful kindnesses went far & wide, & made no outward sign. Here we shall not look upon his like again; here-after—but let us hope there is none.
Affectionately / SLC [MTP].