To The Person Sitting in Darkness: Day By Day

August 4 Sunday – Sam’s ship log:

August 4, Sunday. Reached Fairhaven in the forenoon. Took on board Rev. Dr. Collyer & Rev. Minot Savage.  The ship has been searched [for the umbrella], but without result. Rain. Laying of the corner-stone of the Memorial Church post-poned a day, in consequence [MTP].

Note: Rev. Dr. Robert Collyer (1828-1912), pastor of Rogers’ NY Church of the Messiah, and Rev. Minot Judson Savage (1841-1918), Unitarian minister, were likely guests on the Kanawha; they are not mentioned thereafter on the ship’s log.

August 5 Monday – The Kanawha stopped in Fairhaven, Mass. There, they attended the laying of a cornerstone for the Unitarian Memorial Church, which Rogers was donating in memory of his mother. Sam gave a speech honoring H.H. Rogers. The Hartford Courant covered the ceremonies on Aug. 8, p. 10.

MARK TWAIN’S LATEST SPEECH.

It Was at a Religious Ceremony in Massachusetts.

(New Bedford Standard, Tuesday.)

August 6 Tuesday –The Coes, Benjamins, and Mary Benjamin Rogers stayed in Fairhaven. The next twelve days were filled with excursions from port to port, poker, some light horseplay, good conversation, and jokes [MTHHR 468n1].

Sam’s ship log:

August 7 Wednesday – Sam’s ship log:

Went to Bar Harbor [Maine], & cast anchor. Drove about the region, acquiring information by pumping it out of the driver. The pump was manned by Col. Payne, spelled by Messrs. Rogers & Reed, subordinates.

Rain.

Dumplings.

Reflections upon the perils of property when it goes down to the sea in ships & encounters certain of the wonders of the deep.

August 8 Thursday – At Bar Harbor, Maine at 2:30 p.m. on the Kanawha Sam wrote to Livy.

“Livy dearest, the anchor is just down, & we shall go ashore presently. I shall telegraph you where to telegraph me—Halifax, probably. We still cannot make an itinerary. We shall leave word here (as we did in Portland) to hold letters & telegrams till we know of some sure point to send them to.”

August 9 Friday – In St. John, New Brunswick on the Kanawha, Sam wrote to Livy.

Livy darling, I got your telegram here yesterday afternoon, & was very glad indeed to hear from you. Give aunt Sue my love, & now that you’ve got her, hang on to her.

August 10 Saturday – The Kanawha anchored all day at St. John, New Brunswick [Aug. 11 to Livy].

Sam’s ship log: August 10, Saturday. St. John.

Reversible Falls. They have been discontinued, there not being tourists enough this season to make it pay [MTP].

August 11 Sunday – The yacht Kanawha was now headed for Digby, Nova Scotia, across the Bay of

Fundy from St. John. Sam kept a log of the trip, which reflects the high jinks among the passengers:

Sam’s ship log:

August 12 Monday – Sam’s ship log: August 12, Monday. Yarmouth.

Fog-bound.

Trip in the launch.

Poker. No results [MTP].

August 13 Tuesday – On Rogers’ yacht Kanawha Sam wrote from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia to Livy.

There is nothing to say, dearheart, except that I love you. So I will say that, & repeat it, then go ashore with the gang & take a drive—for the fog is still prevailing outside the harbor, & will continue to do it until the wind changes—if that ever happens.

August 14 Wednesday – On Rogers’ yacht Kanawha en route from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia to Bar Harbor, Maine, Sam wrote two letters to Livy. Sam’s first letter puts him at sea, his second at Bass’s Bay near Bar Harbor.

August 15 Thursday – The Kanawha stopped in Rockland, Maine, 40 miles n. of Bath [MTHHR 468n1].

Sam’s Ship log: August 15, Thursday. Bass’s Bay.

Fog.

August 16 Friday – The Kanawha was nearing Bath, Maine at noon on its return leg to N.Y.C. when Sam wrote to Livy. The letter was postmarked Aug. 17 from Bath.

August 17 Saturday – The Kanawha stopped in Portland, Maine where Thomas B. Reed disembarked.

Then it sailed directly for N.Y.C. [MTHHR 468 n1].

Sam’s log: August 17, Saturday.

Sailed early.

August 18 Sunday – The Kanawha arrived in New York City.

Sam’s last entry in his log: (insert drawn by Harry Rogers 1901)

New York. Cast anchor off the Recreation Dock in the evening. A final search for the umbrella produced nothing, except regret.

August 19 Monday – The estimated date of the Kanawha’s arrival in N.Y.C. Sam’s Aug. 16 to Livy expressed hope that he would find a letter from her at the Grosvenor Hotel. He spent one night there and took a delayed trip back to Saranac Lake the next day, Aug. 20.

August 20 Tuesday – Sam left N.Y.C. in the a.m. for his return to the family at Saranac Lake, N.Y. His Aug. 23 to Rogers shows the trip took him 17 hours, arriving at 1 a.m. on Aug. 21, and that he spent “a couple of days in bed” with a cold, or, Aug. 21 and 22. On the 27th he wrote Miss O’Reilly that he’d “been Ill since my return until now.”

August 21 Wednesday – Sam arrived at Saranac Lake at 1 a.m. and spent this day and the next two days in bed fighting off “a cold in the head” [Aug. 23 to Rogers].

August 22 Thursday – Sam was in bed at Saranac Lake fighting off a head cold . See Aug. 23 to Rogers.

August 23 Friday – In Saranac Lake, N.Y. Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers.

August 25 Sunday – Sam wrote a draft of “The United States of Lyncherdom” [Aug. 26 to Bliss].

August 26 Monday – In Saranac Lake, N.Y. Sam wrote to C.F. Moberly Bell, editor of the London Times, asking for the title of Dr. Morrison’s book about his walk through China and Burma, as his copy that Bell had given him was “packed up with our stuff in New York.” He remembered the facts he was quoting but not the title of the book [MTP].

August 27 Tuesday – In Saranac Lake, N.Y. Sam replied to John Y. MacAlister’s Aug. 2 letter.

Drop the mental telegraphy!—your machine isn’t synchronous with mine (which is out of repair) & won’t work.

August 28 Wednesday – In Saranac Lake, N.Y. Sam wrote to John H. Stevens, older brother of Ed Stevens, one of Sam’s sidekicks in the Marion Rangers, 1861.

August 29 Thursday – In Saranac Lake, N.Y. Sam wrote to Frank Bliss, rethinking the idea of writing a book on lynchings:

No, upon reflection it won’t do for me to write that book if Mr. Newbegin values his Southern Trade, for I shouldn’t have even half a friend left, down there, after it issued from the press.