Sam received letters from Will Sage and Joe Twichell about payments required and red tape needed to  get the “two boxes of Clocks” through customs. He  made a note to do a chapter in his book about “this most scoundrelly &  infernal custom house system” [MTNJ 2: 237].

Sam’s notebook:

Castellini to-day showed us a bracelet took a man 16 months  to engrave. allowed us to walk off with jewelry worth 1500 f & never even  asked our names or hotel—insisted on our taking it home & examining it at  our leisure—Said “To-morrow is a festa—no shops open—bring it back Saturday—no  hurry.”

Italians & Swiss seem to trust to the honesty strangers  readily. We have noticed this very often.

[Augusto Castellani was a renowned Roman goldsmith and dealer in  antiquities.]

Evening—Wood fire in Mr. Chamberlain’s room—C[hamberlaine]  sketched, Mrs. C darned, Livy & Clara [Spaulding] crotched, & I read  Julius Caesar aloud [238-9].