February 19 Sunday – At 21 Fifth Ave. in N.Y.C. Sam wrote to Father Raffaello Stiattesi.

Dear Padre: / It was most kind of you to remember me, & I thank you very much. From what you say I comprehend that the fragrant countess [Massiglia] from the divorce-courts of Philadelphia has been destroying my character. It is all right (as we say), it does not disturb me. The character that she could destroy is not worth saving.

Forgive her? Yes, I am quite able to do that, but it would do no good, she would not understand it. The insane seldom understand words or acts that proceed from a moral basis. Especially when they are old. Earlier she would have understood. At 45 she would have understood. But it is too late now.

We keep you in warm remembrance, dear Padre, we shall not forget you [MTP]. Note: Hill explains the last aspect of conflict with the Countess Massiglia: “The countess, on taking back the villa in 1904, had found eight hundred francs’ damages, which, according to Cecchi, had outraged her; and Stiattesi wrote Clemens that the countess was slandering him all over Florence…” [107].

Victor H. Ross for Toronto Press Club wrote to invite Sam to lecture there [MTP].

Lucy Page Whitehead wrote from Wash. D.C. to Sam, disappointed he would be unable to attend the inauguration of Theodore Roosevelt[MTP].