October 2 Friday – At Quarry Farm in Elmira, N.Y. Sam began a letter to James Barnes that he added a PS of good news to on Oct. 5.
Your letter has arrived but I am dreadfully afraid I shall never see the book. I have written the Hartford postmaster & asked him to keep a sharp lookout for it. There is just a chance that the “private hands” whereby you sent it may inquire for my address & mail it to me here. I will hope so. In that case it will not miscarry. If this copy gets lost I hope you will seize another one, & mail it to
S.L. Clemens (Mark Twain)
C/o Gregory Smith Esq
Villa Bel Riposo
San Domenico
Florence, Italy
—where I shall arrive with my family November 7 to remain a year.
But in any & all cases I wish to thank you cordiall for your good intentions [MTP].
Sam also wrote to Laurence Hutton, now in Switzerland.
Yours from Thusis has just arrived. Ah but you dear pair have been having a hard time—may it mend quickly! That is a lovely Sloane—I’ve not known a lovelier in this world. Alas & alas, we shall be gone when you arrive.
Mrs. Clemens makes a wee little bit of progress every month or two, we think. She can walk half-way across the room now. However, she could do that three months ago. Still, she thinks she can make the voyage to Italy, & we are going to try. It is close upon 14 months, now, since she was stricken helpless [MTP].
Sam also wrote to William Wallace Denslow in N.Y.C.: “I wish I had a copy, but I have never seen it in print” [MTP].
Sam also wrote to A.K. Gibson in Grand Rapids, Mich.: “None but the publisher has authority to grant it” [MTP].
Sam’s notebook: “Why it is called ‘horse chestnut. At every bud, this hoof with nails in it” [NB 46 TS 25].
Note: Sam sketched a picture of a chestnut bud.
Joseph T. Goodman wrote from Alameda, Calif. to Sam, but only the envelope survives [MTP]. Note: however, Sam wrote on the env. “Little Ward is dead. / Autobio,” which likely denotes Goodman’s news; see Sam’s Oct. 9 reply.