July 3 Sunday – For some reason Sam did not go to Elmira, his intention probably to finish acquiring typesetter royalties there.

Gribben quotes Sam’s NB 31, TS 57-8, that Sam spent the afternoon and evening of July 3, 1892 “absorbed in” Sir James Barrie’s The Little Minister (London, 1891) in his bed at the Union League Club in New York City [49]. Note: Below is the full notebook entry written July 4 which shows Sam did not make the quick trip to Elmira:

July 4, ’92. Union League Club, noon. I breakfasted here yesterday [July 3] about 10. Sat around till 2 pm, should say. Loafed down to Glenham hotel & in my room enjoyed the prodigious downpour of rain awhile; then went to bed (3 or 4 p.m.) & was soon absorbed in “The Little Minister,” with shutters closed & gas lit. Hours & hours afterward — no idea how many, for no clocks were in hearing, but my instinct & diminished street noises assured me it was about 2 a.m. — I suddenly thought, “my watch has run down, of course!” & I leaped out of bed, got the thing from my vest on a wall-hook & put it to my ear. Yes, it was silent. Opened it, took a careless glance — apparently 11.30 p.m. — “been stopped more than 2 hours” I said; — listened — no tick hearable; wound it up, closed it; after a moment unclosed it & listened to make sure it had started up again; it hadn’t; shook it, listened, shook it again, then it started up & I put it back in the vest pocket & returned to bed. I finished my book as quickly as possible — say in half an hour — then rushed myself to sleep, to capture what was left of the night (morning.) When I woke I felt well rested up. Rose & looked at my watch — 6 a.m. — “true time is about 8.30,” I said, & ordered breakfast & the paper brought to my room. Ate the breakfast, read the “World” through, wrote a letter or two, began “A Window in Thrums.” By & by, dressed & went up Fifth Ave — noticed the clock in fron of Fifth Ave Hotel — took out my watch to set it. By George, it & the clock were precisely together! — 10.14. What was it that called me out of bed the very instant that my watch had run down & stopped the night before?

This is the very counterpart of Mr. Child’s adventure with his watch in Florence [NB 31 TS 57-8].