November 29 Thursday – Thanksgiving – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam replied to John Y. MacAlister in London (incoming not extant).

It was good to hear from you. Particularly to-day, which is Thanksgiving Day, sacred to humbug & hypocrisy; & so a letter from a sincere source comes as a breath of fresh air to the person who has fallen down the privy.

And it is lonesome in this house. The doctors banished Jean to the country 5 weeks ago; they banished my secretary, Miss Lyon to the country for a fortnight last Saturday; they banished Clara to the country for a fortnight last Monday. And so I’m a solitude. They banished me to Bermuda—to sail next Wednesday—but when I found that Col. Harvey couldn’t go with me, I struck, & shan’t go. My complaint is permanent bronchitis, & is one of the very best assets I’ve got, for it excuses me from every public function this winter—& all other winters that may come. I wouldn’t trade it for your Unique, be you as vain of it as you may.

The cheque for Plasmon dividend, £700 is received & hereby acknowledged, with thanks.

I am glad you like Susy’s Biography, I think it is a dear little book, & I have limitless reverence for it.

Well, I wish I could go to England once more. I’d have gone to the Aberdeen 400 last September, but they didn’t offer me a degree & it made me jealous of Carnegie & I wouldn’t play.

Always sincerely & affectionately yours, …. [MTP].

B.L. Willits wrote from Lenox, Iowa to ask Sam where he might obtain “The Soliloquy of King Leopold” [MTP].