August 8 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to James Redpath.

      I am different from other women. They have their monthly period once a month, but I have mine once a week, & sometimes oftener. That is to say, my mind changes that often. People who have no mind, can easily be steadfast and firm, but when a man is loaded down to the guards with it, as I am, every heavy sea of foreboding, or inclination, or mayhap of indolence, shifts the cargo. See?

      Therefore, if you will notice, one week I am likely to give rigid instructions to confine me to New England; next week, send me to Arizona; the next week withdraw my name; next week, give you untrammeled swing; and the week following modify it. You must try to keep the run of my mind, Redpath—it is your business, being the agent, & it always was too many for me [MTL 4: 440-1].

 August 8 or 9 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Livy. (The first four letters he wrote have been lost.) He sought to reassure her about the passing anniversary of her father’s death, the tenuous health of baby Langdon and his love. Livy began a new number sequence for Sam’s letters since leaving Elmira [MTL 4: 442].