December 2 Friday – In Vienna, Austria, Sam wrote condolences to Mrs. Edward M. Bunce upon hearing of the death of her husband, “Ned” on Nov. 19.

It falls like a thunder-stroke, dear Mrs. Bunce, & is the heaviest I have known in my life, & the costliest loss, except our Susy’s death. It associates itself naturally with that bereavement because in some particulars Ned was nearer & dearer to the children than was any other person not of the blood. …

I knew by Livy’s face when I came out to breakfast that a disaster had befallen; but as she asked me not to read the letters at present, I did not know its nature until an hour later….

We loved him so—in our blood & bone & marrow we loved him so … [MTP].

Sam also wrote to Joe Twichell.

Dear Joe— / I will not try to talk about it, it breaks my heart. Ned Bunce was very very near & dear to me, & to all this home-circle of mine; & he was always that, from the beginning.

They have begun to fall! The charm is broken, the others will follow, now. While we are trying to imagine a Hartford without Ned Bunce in it, we are reminded to prepare to imagine a Hartford with the rest gone that made it Hartford to us… We are keeping it from the children—& shall, as long as we can [MTP].

Sam also sent an aphorism to an unidentified person: “By trying, we can easily learn to endure adversity.

Another man’s, I mean. / Truly Yours / Mark Twain / Dec. 2/98” [MTP].

Sam’s notebook: “Dec. 2. ’98. News of Ned Bunce’s death” [NB 40 TS 51]. Note. Bunce died on Nov. 19.