March 4 Wednesday – Dorothy Butes wrote from London to Sam.
Dear Dr. Clemens. / Your crimes follow you! In geography, the other day, the Professor said that at a little inn in Germany, where he stayed, in the guest register he had to put down, his name & profession, & just above his name was that of “S.L. Clemens, Profession, Mark Twain”!!
We are in a pretty flat (apartment) of our own, now—It is nice not to be in hotels—one gets so tired of living in trunks—I never saw anything which quite equals the slowness of British Workmen—They put all there pots & pans in the hall, roll up their sleeves, slap each other on the back, & solicitously enquire, “Wot’s wrong, old Sport?” of one another—Then they do a little work—At eleven they go off—“for lunch” (they arrived at ten, you know,) and don’t turn up again till 2 o’clock—Mother has been so tormented by them that the doctor has ordered her to bed for a few weeks, so the “British Workman” will be “on his own”!
I went to a Dance at Queen’s College last night. Very, very few of the girls could “lead,” & very few could even “follow” decently—We had a “Waltz Gallop” amongst other things. It was too funny to see our staid and stately English Grammar teacher gallop off like a Bucking Bronco from the Wild West! I & my partner started off in her wake, and bumped into a few couples—
It has been foggy and wretched. I loathe this climate!
You have been down in the Bermudas again, havn’t you? We had a lovely stay in Paris—& brought back lots of mechanical toys. I must go and do my German exercises now. I don’t see why one couldn’t be just as happy without German verbs!
With much love, Your little friend / Dorothy Butes
P.S. Arn’t you coming over for the London Pageant? London would love to have you ( I speak for London!) [MTP; MTAq 115-16].
John M. Howells for Howells & Stokes wrote to Sam about Clara’s desire to have the two
Lucca della Robbia (1399-1482) plaques set into the wall [MTP].
Frances Nunnally wrote from St. Timothy’s to Sam.
Dear Mr. Clemens,— / I hope you got the letter I sent to you in New York just too late for you to get it before you sailed. In it I told you the lovely pin arrived just after I sent you the letter you received in New York. It hadn’t been lost in the mails at all, and I surely am glad for I wouldn’t have lost it for anything.
Bermuda must be a beautiful place and I am so glad you went down there, so you will miss the disagreeable cold weather of New York.
Last night we had great excitement here, though it all came out well. While one of the clubs was giving a party in the gymnasium, the school house caught on fire from some of the paper decorations on the walls, and all the favors just went up in one great flame. All the girls got out of the building in about two minutes and no one was hurt at all. The part that wasn’t burnt was damaged by water, so we will not be able to use that building for several days. Our dwelling house was not touched, though there was a general confusion, as everything was moved out for fear the fire would spread. Everything was fixed up again to-day and I think we are going to have school to-morrow in a little parish house near here. Though we lost only one day of school, I suppose everything will be more or less confused for the next three or four days, until we can get into our school house gain.
Must stop now / With love, / Francesca [MTP; MTAq 116-17].