March 19 Sunday – Susy Clemens’ 21st birthday. In her late March letter to Louise Brownell, Susy wrote:
Mr. Phelps was with us on the 19th my birthday, twenty first, and he tried to tease me past bearing but I didn’t mind. He is very charming but so naïve! A naïve ambassador. He has accepted the judgeship [Cotton 101219]. Note: see Feb. 14, 1893 entry on Phelps.
March 18 Saturday – Sam’s notebook in Florence:
To dine Saturday Eve at Poggio Gherardo to meet Sir William Mackby & Lady Mackby, Chief Judge. Ask if he knows Douglas Straight, who is back from India lately, retired and knighted [NB 33 TS 4].
March 16 Thursday – In Florence Sam wrote to Laurence Hutton, who was to arrive in the city shortly after Sam left for New York. Hutton had been in Egypt.
March 15 Wednesday – Sam’s notebook in Florence:
Wednesday. To Duomo, Piazza della Signorini, Palazzo Vecchio, Ufizzi & Pitti with Laffans.
Thursday. Laffan left for London last night [Mar. 15], Mrs. Laffan drove out & dined with us [NB 33 TS 3].
March 14 Tuesday – Frederick J. Hall responded to Sam’s Mar. 8 letter that the “emergency fund” he’d suggested should hold $30,000 “in the bank entirely separate from our regular accounts….Whenever we ran a little ahead we could put money back into this fund and use it as a sinking fund to pay off our indebtedness to you and to the Mount Morris Bank. Sam wrote on the envelope, “No more expense this summer & fall (’93)” [MTLTP 341n1;MTP].
March 13 Monday – In Florence Sam wrote to Frederick J. Hall, enclosing two articles for magazines.
The Story contains 3,800 to 4,000 words [Possibly, “Is He Living, or Is He Dead?”]
The “Diary” contains 3,800 words. [“Adam’s Diary”]
Each would make about 4 pages of the Century.
The Diary is a gem, if I do say it myself…
Sam felt they should sell for $600 each, and if Cosmopolitan didn’t want them, Hall was to send them to the Century without naming a price,
March 12 Sunday – In Florence Sam wrote to daughter Clara. Summer had arrived, “The sun is gratefully hot.” The Hillyers had left Florence, and “Uncle Larry” (Laurence Hutton), would soon arrive, though after Sam sailed on Mar. 22. Many other guests came through Florence:
“Yas” [William Walter Phelps] is coming, too. He arrived in Rome a few days ago, I judge. He will spend a week there with the Binghams, then come to Florence; so I shall see him before I go.
March 11 Saturday – Sam’s notebook in Florence was a list of things to do/get:
March 11. / Fund-butter. / Shaving things. / Writing paper & envelops. / Tobacco & cigars. / Ship-cap. / MSS. / Cash. / Furnish cable-address. / Get Joan Arc trial in Hartford. / flask [NB 33 TS 2].
March 10 Friday – Frederick J. Hall answered Sam’s Jan. 24 letter with a four-page, single-spaced typed response, which, among other things, asked about selling PW as a subscription book, published through American Publishing Co.
March 8 Wednesday – In Florence Sam answered Frank Bliss’ Feb. 21 proposal, agreeing to a cheaper edition of Sketches New and Old for a ten per cent royalty. He released Bliss “from the requirements of the 50,000-clause appended to the original contract.” He advised that he’d also cabled his agreement, then hit Bliss with a matter that had been a burr under his saddle: