June 25 Saturday – Sam wrote from Elmira to his mother, and sister:

“We were called here suddenly by telegram 3 days ago. Mr. Langdon is very low. We have well nigh lost hope—all of us except Livy.”

He added that Charley would be home in two weeks, and that the whole city was troubled at Jervis’ condition. The Elmira newspapers reported on Jervis Langdon’s condition, sometimes weekly [MTL 4: 156]. Sam also wrote to Mary Mason Fairbanks about Jervis [MTL 4: 157]. It had become a deathwatch.

Sam’s article “The Editorial Office Bore,” which had appeared in the June edition of Galaxy, was printed in the Buffalo Express [McCullough 215].

Sam also wrote to Charles Scribner & Co., asking for a book on child rearing to be sent to Elmira. Livy was three months pregnant with Langdon Clemens [MTL 4: 158-9]. Livy’s doctor was Rachel Brooks Gleason, one of America’s first female physicians. The Gleasons ran the Elmira Water Cure [A. Hoffman 172]. The sorrow of a family death would be weighed against the hope of a birth.