June 10 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Orion and Mollie. He told them of Clara’s birth; Livy was doing “amazingly well—is cheerful, happy, grateful & strong.” Sam wrote of firing his coachman, Downey, and hiring Patrick McAleer, who was “straight” (sober) because his wife kept him so. Sam received a letter from Mollie this day, as he had a few times from Orion in Keokuk. Those letters were lost, but detailed life on Stotts farm (Mollie’s father’s farm), their continued desire to buy and not rent, and other farm matters [MTL 6: 155-6].

“The Modoc is as brown as an Indian, because she is seldom or never in the house, but is tramping around outside in the sun & wind, all day.” 

June 10–15 Monday – Sam wrote a business letter from Elmira to James Redpath, and included one line about baby Clara, “seven and three-quarters pounds” [MTL 6: 157].