February 4 Wednesday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote two notes to Livy.
Feb. 4. Dearheart, how wonderful are old letters in bringing a dead past back to life & filling it with movement & stir of figures clothed in ruddy flesh! It all seems more real & present than it does in a novel, & one feels it more & is more a part of it, with the joy-light in his eyes, & his own heart on the skewer. Those are marvels that are wrought by those two or three final simple letters from Calcutta. I was present myself, in the body, it seemed to me.
Good morning, sweetheart, it is bright & beautiful—& I love you most deeply. / Y [MTP].
And
Feb. 4.—night. And now the stormy winds do blow, as the sailor-ballad says. I believe we have the noblest roaring blasts here I have ever known on land, they sing their hoarse song through the big tree-tops with a splendid energy that thrills me & stirs me & uplifts me, & makes me want to live always a body can have such grand orchestration. Miss Burbank is here & is very charming & interesting, just as always.
Good night my best beloved darling & the anniversary. I love you both. /Y [MTP]. Note: Miss Emily M. Burbank (ca. 1869-1934), NY writer and lecturer.
Sam also replied to the Jan. 31 of William Oliver Fuller, Jr. asking, “What in the world” made him think he was offended? “Banish the idea,” Sam wrote, “I never dreamed of such a thing” [MTP].
Sam’s notebook: “Blessed is the Free Thinker, for he breaketh the mind’s chains & spreadeth light & liberty in the earth. / And blessed is the Church, which glorifieth the product & smoucheth the credit” [NB 46 TS 9-10].
Howard E. Wright for the Plasmon Company of America wrote to Sam.
Please accept my thanks for your letter of the 6th inst. enclosing check for $10,000.00, being final payment on stock subscription. I will observe your request and keep your shares until you call for them.
I have just telephoned to Kelsey at Mr. Hammond’s office, and find that the name of the young physician referred to by you is Dr. Alfred Hillier, 30 Wimpole St., London, W.
Wright suggested Sam “dynamite” Bergheim with a cable, if Sam had not heard back [MTP]. Note: at the top of the letter Sam wrote “Suggested…cablegram to be sent to the London Co. and asked Mr. Wright to keep a copy of it/ Feb. 5.”