May 3 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote to William Dean Howells, to coordinate a trip to work on the new Sellers play. Taking Susy to Boston as planned, a week from this day was out, since Livy said Susy would miss too much schooling. So, Sam intended to go “up Monday alone — unless you can come down here that day [May 10].” He wanted such a visit on his part to be “private & let nobody know till the work is finished.” In a humorous vein, Sam added:

We missed a chicken out of the ice-chest, but thank God it was after you left. (Aldrich would say the obvious thing: “Yes, you missed it after he left.”) [MTP].

Sam also wrote to James B. Pond in New York, saying the typesetter projects might require him to go to Europe on short notice, and not to put him in any program for the next few months. Sam hoped to stop by to see Pond on Wednesday (May 5) if other engagements didn’t interfere [MTP].

Todd (no further name given, as only a fragment survives) wrote to Sam from Stonington, Conn. “My dear Sir, When I remember how my dear father Dr. Todd of Pittsfield, Mass. Was almost driven to dispair [sic] by the silly…” (the rest of the letter is lost) [MTP from Autobiographical Dictation, 28 Dec. 1906].