May 6 Friday – Sitting in an art museum at Uffizi Palace in Florence, Italy Sam wrote to Poultney Bigelow. Sam’s letter is an obvious response to Bigelow’s (not extant) question about seeing Kaiser William II.

Did I “have a chat” with him? Yes, and heard others chat with him, also. He was in great form. I will tell you about it when I see you; it is too long a story for a letter.

I have sat me down in this holy of holies of the Old Masters to write a private lecture upon their performance, and am now waiting for a group of Baedecker-armed [travel guide-armed] English tourists to vacate the front of a picture which I am inserting in my lecture. I call this a private lecture for the reason that I know pretty well that Mrs. Clemens won’t let me print it. I write for my own malignant satisfaction — and to read to the ungodly [MTP].

Theodore A. Bingham wrote from Berlin thanking Sam for his “kind letter — & much more for your kind help & promptness” (Sam wrote on the letter: “From Capt. Bingham, U.S.Military attaché, Berlin”). Bingham described seeing the crown prince, age 10, in Potsdam, marching in review [MTP].