October 21 Wednesday – At the Grosvenor Hotel in N.Y.C. Sam wrote to Frederick A. Duneka.
Won’t you send Vols. I & II of Poultney Bigelow’s History on board the ship?—“Princess Irene,” North German Lloyd, Hoboken. She sails Saturday, 11 a.m.
My address on board is “Suite 1 (promenade deck.) [”]
And tie this red C on the parcel.
See you to-morrow night. / Mark.
[in left margin:] And can you send “Madam Bovary” too? [MTP]. Note: Poultney Bigelow’s History of the German Struggle for Liberty. 4 vols. (1899-1905); Sam inscribed vol I with “S.L. Clemens / 1903”; [Gribben 70].Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary (1857). Sam’s reading material for the voyage.
Sam also wrote to George J. Helmer, N.Y. osteopath: “I’ve tried desperately to get to you, but couldn’t—& so I sail Saturday with a stiff back.” Sam gave his Florence address and noted he was taking a N.Y. checkbook with him [MTP].
Sam also wrote to Joseph Johnson, Jr.
In boxing & labeling the family for Europe I have been so overwhelmed with labor & errands that I could not find time to answer letters. To-morrow I must work 25 hours, next day 27—then sail Saturday & take a rest.
I know the cause is just as good as it was before, & I wish I could have answered the compliment of your invitation with a word & a shout for the clean ticket from the Acorn platform, for certainly I am for that ticket with all my little might. But I am so crowded that I have not even had a chance to go to Madison Square—which I greatly regret, for now I shall never see Elijah this side of —— [MTP].
Sam also wrote to Robert Underwood Johnson, editor of Century.
“I’ll be sure to come if I can, but it is very doubtful, for to-morrow is cyclone-day. We sail Saturday, you know. I’m sending my love to you-all—& you better send the mag. (AND the photo) to Suite 1 (promenade deck) ‘Princess Irene,’ Hoboken—so as to make sure. I want it” [MTP].
Sam also wrote to Robertus Love, reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
I have read it, & it is true. How morals have changed since I was a journalist. I wish to say good-bye & good luck to you & all my other Missouri friends—we are sailing for Italy, on Saturday, for a years sojourn, the doctors promising that the climate will restore Mrs Clemens’s broken health [MTP: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Dec. 13, 1903, p.3].
Sam also wrote to Frank N. Doubleday. Cue: “Good-bye, dear old man. It has been impossible to” [MTP]. UCCL 12875 letter is not currently available.
Sam’s notebook: “Harvey, lunch—will tell me where. / [Horiz. Line separator] / Harper page has 114 lines of 8 words each: at 30 cents a word, this is $2.40 a line. Broken lines (dialogue) reduce the page by 6 lines on an average. So the page is worth only about $260” [NB 46 TS 27].