October 1 Friday — In Redding, Conn. Sam wrote to Helen Schuyler Allen, St. Andrew Hotel, N.Y.C.
My child! Your letter arrives late. I must rush a line to you right away, or you will be gone to New York before this reaches Albany.
I guess I will send this to New York—then it will be sure to reach you. Tell me, dear, when you & your mother can come after the 7th of October. The house will be empty, then, for two or three days right after the 7th. Will you drop me a line & give me your earliest date?
I suppose you are having a very good time flying around. I hope you are, anyway. / With lots of love /… [MTP; not in MTAq].
Sam also wrote to Margery H. Clinton in Tuxedo Park, N.Y.
Plumber dear, you belong to a very tough profession—a profession that is always explaining. You & the
clergy are just alike; you are always explaining the unexplainable, & charging war prices for it; always mending
souls & holes & leaving them worse than they were before; always putting in washers that won’t wash, always
loafing & charging time for it, always soldiering when you ought to be soldering. Reform! reform!
But never mind, I think you’ll do, just as you are. And besides, people that reform are always tougher than they were before. Many & many’s the time I have tried it.
Can't you & Miss Caroline come up & give us a visit after the middle of October? Nature is getting ready to welcome you; the woods are already showing color, & I have begun to put on my autumn tints.
Who? Me? “Going to the Fulton celebration?” I should have the doctors on my back if I tried to travel. / Most respectfully / ... [MTP}.
Sam also wrote a postcard to Mrs. Edward Quintard. “A word of hearty greeting, my well-beloved Mrs. Quintard, & I do wish you could have come with the Doctor! /All happiness attend you! / SL Clemens” [MTP].