April 26 Friday – Sam was in Old Point Comfort, Va. In his May 2 to Clara, Sam wrote of the first day that it was “sunny and bright.” After that the fog rolled in.

“But the first day was very gay, & really paid for the excursion. I blundered into the Virginia building, thinking it was the Maryland one; but it was all right: the Governor was holding a reception & I took it off his hands. It gave him a rest & he was thankful. I knew him & his wife before.”

Notes: Claude Augustus Swanson (1862–1939) served as governor of Virginia from 1906 to 1910. The site chosen for the Exposition on a mile-long frontage at Sewell’s Point near the mouth of Hampton Roads, was about 30 miles from the original Jamestown location. Theodore Roosevelt and Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany were among the distinguished visitors.

Isabel Lyon’s journal: Mary Lawton came in today and in relating her experiences said that the men in the theatrical profession have no respect for her because she is a virtuous woman.

When her name is mentioned they say, “Oh, Miss Lawton, she—!” and shrug their shoulders in derision. She says there must be something wrong with her, because she cannot fall in love with the men who have made advances to her. And you feel that she has never had a lover, because she kisses women on the mouth. Men, she says, do not fall in love with her; but just regard her as they would a prize cow, or other prize winning creature, or as legitimate prey, but she cannot take the necessary interest in them. She has no aptitude for intrigue [MTP TS 54].