November 22 Saturday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote to Edward W. Bok, editor of the Ladies’ Home Journal. “It is a long look ahead but it is good wisdom any way. I haven’t broken with the Harpers yet, and I see no prospect of it, but if it should happen I should be quite willing to talk Christmas Story with you” [MTP].
Sam also wrote to Chatto & Windus, asking them to “Please write this lady” and inform her he had “no authority” in the matter of translations of his work; that he’d placed that in Chatto & Windus’ hands some 25 years before. The lady is not named, nor the work in question. Sam gave hope of Livy’s recovery, and confessed it had been two months since he’d seen her. “No one is allowed in the sick room except Clara and the physician and the trained nurse” [MTP].
Sam also wrote an aphorism to an unidentified person.
“We grant God the possession of all the qualities of mind except the one that keeps the others healthy; that watches over their dignity; that focuses their vision true—Humor” [MTP: Kenneth W. Rendell catalog, No. 270].