October 24 Friday – Sam and daughter Clara Clemens took the train from Hartford at 12:25 p.m. They got off at New Haven and took a Shore Line boat with a parlor car, all the way to Philadelphia. Sam thought it a “Mighty lovely trip.”

Dining room on the boat, skirting around New York, & an hour & ten minutes to eat (a poor) dinner in. Ben [Clara] ate two buttered rolls at New Haven & nearly a thimble full of baked potato on that boat.

They arrived at the Broad Street station some fifteen minutes late with the 7:15 p.m. Bryn Mawr train ready to leave; it was held in wait for the pair and they reached the college in an hour.

…walked to the College — no Susy there — gone to a dance, some girls said. But in a moment Susy burst in — she had heard of our arrival. She was for going straight & hospitably to her room & giving up the dance; but I wouldn’t allow that. Clara didn’t seem tired, & I wasn’t, & had been free from rheumatism all day & was feeling like a bird; so I joined the crowd.

To my joy it turned out that the dance was here — right at home. I danced two Virginia reels & another dance, & looked on & talked the rest of the time. It was very jolly & pleasant, & everybody asked after & was disappointed when I said you hadn’t come.

Sam wrote the above at 10:40 p.m. from the Summit Grove Inn, just after the dance. His daughters had left in a bus for the College. He sent his love and said he had to write John Brusnahan, foreman for the New York Herald’s compositors, before retiring [LLMT 258-9]. Note: letter to Brushahan not extant.

F.C. Clarke wrote a postcard asking Sam to use the Single Tax as the basis for a book [MTP].

Orion Clemens wrote to Sam: “The doctor has prepared us for the end at any moment. Ma has almost lost the power of articulation” [MTP].

Hartford and New York Transportation Co. billed $1, $1.24, and $.050, all charged Oct. 27 for transport of a barrel of apples, oil, case of mineral water [MTP].