September 14 Monday – In London Sam wrote two letters to Franklin G. Whitmore about the Hartford house rental and associated matters. In the first letter he also mentioned “a notice of Susy by George Warner and a little poem by Annie Trumbull.” (Editorial emphasis.) After writing the first letter, a letter and statement of affairs came from Whitmore. Sam was adamant about any damage and interest owed from John and Alice Day for their stay in the house. He wanted an inventory made of all the house contents save for the books. He agreed to having the furnace repaired and suggested “to jam a lot more screws” might fix the ceiling problem. He wrote that a letter Whitmore sent by way of Brown Shipley & Co. never reached him, calling the firm “a slovenly, idiotic bank” [MTP].

Sam also wrote to Orion and Mollie Clemens:

There is nothing to say. The bolt has fallen, & we with it — in pride, spirit, ambition, the zest of life.

      We shall live here a few months, while I do some writing. We that are left are together, & all well — at least fairly well; & not apparently near to death — which is regrettable.

Sam also wrote he’d not expected the cable that came about Susy to be anything but good news, so he had no preparation for the contents. He was saving Livy from letter writing as “well as I can in these black days” [MTP].