October 9 Friday – In Redding, Conn. Sam finished his Oct. 6, 7, 8 to Margaret Blackmer at the Misses Tewksbury’s School in Irvington-on-Hudson, NY.
Friday, Oct. 9. I have a lovely letter from your mother this morning, & I gather from it that one of these days you are going to invite me again to visit the school. That is very pleasant, dear heart, I shall be sure to accept.
Do you like romances? Very well, here is one. About next Tuesday or Wednesday a Missouri sweetheart of mine is coming here from Missouri to visit me—the very first sweetheart I ever had. It was 68 years ago. She was 5 years old, & I the same. I had an apple, & fell in love with her & gave her the core. I remember it perfectly well, & exactly the place where it happened, & what kind of a day it was. She figures in “Tom Sawyer” as “Becky Thatcher.” Or maybe in “Huck Finn”—anyway it’s in one of those books. She is bringing one of her granddaughters with her—a grown-up young lady, I guess.
It is noon, now. I think I will get up. There is no hurry about finishing this letter; I will mail this much of it today, & then go on with it a paragraph per day till I get it done some time or other. You are busy & I mustn’t tax you; but whenever you’ve got any love for me, save it up till there’s enough of it to fill a few lines, then find a chance when you’ve a minute or two to spare, & send it along.
Distributed along through this letter I’m sending you my love—not all of it, but such of it as I’ve found room for. / S L C., Curator [MTP; MTAq 215]. Note: Becky Thatcher was actually Laura Hawkins, now Frazer.
In the evening, Ralph W. Ashcroft brought Commodore Daniel Dow of the Cunard line to Stormfield for a weekend stay. Dow’s “table-steward” accompanied him [Oct. 12 to Nunnally]. See insert of Sam wearing a jacket and cap of Dow’s. The two men met on one of Sam’s many trans-Atlantic crossings, perhaps many years before.
Sam’s new guestbook:
Name Address Date Remarks
Commander D. Dow, R.N.R. On board his ship R.M.S. “Caronia” October 9-11 [Daniel Dow]
Note: Sam’s original guestbook also shows Dow for Oct. 10 [Mac Donnell TS 5].
Isabel Lyon’s journal: Tonight Captain Dow of the Caronia arrived and with him his pet steward Billy. Always Benares comes on Fridays. The King was walking around the circle for a little exercise, and his white figure in the moonlight fell in like a spirit in the landscape. All day I have been very busy, for young Horace Hazen has come to try to be the King’s butler. He has never been in service of any kind, but he feels that it is an honor to be given the privilege just to try to be the King’s butler. Eighteen he is, and 6 feet 1—and very slender, but with the spirit of work in him. If only it will last. Anyway he drifted to the position. We did not search for him, so who can tell? [MTP: IVL TS 69-70].
Hawaii Promotion Co. wrote to announce that the mantel piece had been shipped. They asked if he would have his photo taken sitting by the mantel or standing next to it [MTP].
Charles Gilman Norris wrote from Toronto, Canada to Sam, hoping “the time will come” when he’d have the “pleasure of visiting…and of expressing a great deal difficult to put on paper.” Norris discussed Free Masonry and enclosed a four and a half page single spaced typed treatise on religion, philosophy and the like [MTP].
Alice von Versen wrote from Germany to Sam having read of the burglars and Sam’s new house. She would call on Jean in Berlin, and thought that Prof. Hofrath von Reuvers had “an excellent reputation & I hope he will benefit her” [MTP].
William Wainwright wrote from NYC to Sam, agreeing to charge $97 to install a burglar alarm system at Stormfield, Clemens to pay the cost of lodging and meals for the electrician sent [MTP].
L.E. Wild wrote from NYC to Lyon asking about references for Claude Benchotte, previously a butler for Clemens who now applied with Wild [MTP]. Note: IVL: “No faults that I know of / an excellent man”