October 3 Thursday – In Tuxedo Park, N.Y. Sam finished his Oct. 2 to Dorothy Quick.
Last night we played “hearts”—a very good game, I think, because it is simple, & doesn’t require any mental labor. I wish we had thought of it when you were here. But next time we’ll play it. It is more interesting than those other games.
You should see our cat. It is half grown, & is gay & wise & courteous, & very handsome. It has a tail at one end, & two sets of legs, one at the bow & the other at the ster, & is just as astonishing in other ways.
This cat is trying to look like Miss Lyon, but I think it does not succeed very well—& won’t, until it has had more practice.
It sits up like this. Always on the same end. Everybody admires it & thinks it is full of talent.
We drove over the Nigger-pond road & all around the lake, yesterday afternoon—remember that road? It is very beautiful, now. We’ll make a longer drive today; I wish you were here to go with us.
Evening
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Your letter & the pictures have come, dear. The one where you are standing by my chair is the very very best one of you I have ever seen, & you are next best in the one where I am a nice old whiteheaded nigger.
That little cat caught a bird to-day & brought it in, & it got away & flew out of the window.
There is a heavenly dog here, but he is not ours; he came down the hill on a visit, & will have to be sent back. He is the long kind.
With love &
Lots of kisses — SLC [MTAq 68-9].
H.H. Rogers in New Bedford, Mass. sent a telegram to Sam: “DELIGHTED TO HAVE YOU COME TO FAIR HAVEN YACHT LEAVING ON FRIDAY COMMUNICATE WITH 26 BROADWAY REGARDING HOUR” [MTHHR 639].
Sam replied to H.H. Rogers’ telegram, probably also with one of his own: “VERY MUCH DISAPPOINTED CANNOT GO. VISITORS CLARA EXPECTED HERE SATURDAY, OR COULD I SAY CLARA EXPECTED SATURDAY. I EXPECT HER SATURDAY AS MUCH AS ANY TIME” [MTHHR 641n1].
Walter G. Holmes for Matilda Ziegler Magazine for the Blind, NYC wrote to Sam enclosing the winner of a “best bit of humor” prize for the blind reader. It is not in the file
[MTP]. Note: Lyon wrote on the letter, “Answd. Oct. 8, ‘07”
William Dean Howells wrote to Sam.
I saw Harvey yesterday, and he said you were wondering the last time he met you why you never heard from me: so here goes. I would like to come see you, for I understand you are now an elderly man, while I still feel my green oats. But you are in Tuxedo, and I cannot go there, for I have only a day or two before returning to Kittery Point.
Howells related a “busy summer,” and of revising Venetian Life. He wrote of seeing Francis Millet “at the Club last night and he said he had lately been visiting the people who have your old Hartford house. What memories his say conjured up! I pass it along to you, for I think it does you good to suffer. If not, Litt. D., Oxon., cure thyself” [MTHL 2: 825-6].
Rhea Monfort wrote from Chambersburg, Pa. to invite Sam to be speaker of the day at the Founders Day for Wilson College [MTP]. Note: Lyon wrote on the letter, “Answd. Oct. 3, ‘07”
J.H. McKeen wrote from Moline, Ill. to ask Sam for a joke to be used at a charity event for an orphanage [MTP]. Note: Lyon wrote on the letter, “Answd. Oct. 8, ‘07”
Maria L. Souther wrote to ask Sam to lecture for the Jamaica Plain Tuesday Club, early in Apr. [MTP]. Note: Lyon wrote on the letter, “Answd. Oct. 8, ‘07”
David P. Steele wrote inviting Sam to join the newly formed Bumpkin Club: “Its sole object is to be recreation and pleasure, to drive the cobwebs from the brain wearied by business cares….Please reply immediately and I will call at your convenience and give you further particulars, or if you can have sufficient confidence in me, mail to me your check for Five dollars and leve it to me to give you value received. When I choose to close the list of membership no one can get in for love or money, as a full fledged member” [MTHHR 641n3]. Note: Oct. 4 to HHR.
Sam’s A.D. of this day untitled related the 1867 story of selling Gen. Nelson A. Miles a dog that Sam didn’t own, “the three-dollar dog”; the piece was selected for MTE [351-8]. Note: Sam also told this tale on Mar. 5, 1908 at the Princess Hotel, Bermuda for a hospital benefit.