December 19 Monday – At the Hotel Krantz in Vienna, Austria, Sam wrote to Poultney Bigelow.

I was astonished at the handwriting & took it to mean extreme age until I referred to the signature; then I judged it meant rheumatism and would presently disappear, you being young, as yet, and no proper subject for permanent infirmities of that nature.

….

I very much wish we may go barging and cycling with you next Summer; nothing would suit me better; but thus far our plans are foggy and indefinite. I think we shall go home to America at the end of the summer and see if we can afford to live there—a pretty serious question and doubtful, perhaps. Still, we want to try  [MTP].

Sam also sent condolences to Franklin G. Whitmore on his “second disaster,” the loss of a loved-one.

“There is no office for words to perform, except to rejoice for the dead & mourn for the living. And so I mourn with you & Mrs. Whitmore, & remember Susy, & say no word more further, than to offer the love & sympathy of this family. Who know what you feel, we being Past Masters in grief” [MTP].