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.

At breakfast, an hour ago, I ventured, for the first time, to throw out a feeler, for all these days’ silence made me a little uneasy & suspicious. I intimated that at home, I sometimes snored—not often, & not much, but a little—but it might be possible that at sea, I—though I hoped—that is to say—

But I was most pleasantly interrupted at that point by a universal outburst of compliment & praise, with assurances that I made the nights enjoyable for everybody, & that they often lay awake hours to listen, & Mr Rogers said it infused him so with comfortableness that he tried to keep himself awake by turning over & over in bed so as to get more of it; Rice said it was not a coarse & ignorant snore, like some people’s, but was a perfectly gentlemanly snore; Colonel Payne [sic Paine] said he was always sorry when night was over & he knew he had to wait all day before he could have some more; & Tom Reed said the reason he moved down into the coal bunkers was because it was even sweeter, there, where he could get a perspective on it. This is very different than the way I am treated at home, where there is no appreciation of what a person does.

We don’t know where we are going, after Halifax; we shall remain here until to-morrow; so I shall telegraph & have your letter sent to Yarmouth.

We are having wonderfully good times; all hands in bed & asleep before 11.30 nightly, & up & out at 7 a.m. daily [MTP]. Note: evidently Sue Crane was visiting at Lake Saranac.

Sam’s ship log: August 9, Friday. St. John.

Poker. Dr. Rice accumulated 10 cents, (the others say.) [MTP].