March 11 Sunday – In London, England Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers:

Dear Mr. Rogers:

In bank here- – – – – $5,000

Due from Harper, May 1 – – 3,000

Edinburg, April 1 – – 3,000

Chatto (de luxe ed.) – 10,000  (but not all payable till Sept.)

Prospectively due from Bliss,

Harper, Chatto (old books) & Edinburg by next October, say– 12,000

$33,000

And Charley Langdon has recently blown life into some coal-stock of my wife’s which has lain dead for 13 years, & it is now worth—$100,000. In addition, old 5 per cent stocks in Langdon’s hands—75,000.

In view of these facts it has seemed to me that it was about time for me to look around & buy something. So I looked around & bought. Therefore please send me $12,500, so that it will reach me by mid-April. Pretty soon I will tell you what it is I have bought; then you will see that I am thoughtful & wise.

Mind—don’t you sacrifice nay good securities. No, keep them as security & lend me the money if you can’t get it without making sacrifices. This conduct will please God, & He will not allow the interest to default, nor the principal. (No, it will be better for you to take care of those details yourself; it is not well to trust too much to strangers whom you have had no dealings with.)

I’ve accepted the Lotos complimentary dinner, & shall hope to get home in time—before the dinner season is over. I don’t know, though—I suppose it is doubtful. I was not able to say to Mr. Lord when we were coming, but I said you would know, some weeks beforehand & would telephone him. / Ys Ever [MTHHR 436-7]. Note: Sam’s investment was in Plasmon; he would become a director on Apr. 19. The Lotos Club dinner in Mark Twain’s honor would be held in N.Y. on Nov. 10, 1900; Chester Sanders Lord, managing editor of the N.Y. Sun, was secretary of the Lotos Club. See Mar. 14 NB entry, when this letter was mailed.