December 27 Monday – Sam’s notebook:

At Fraulein Ries’s Monday. Second sitting for bust. Her bust of Baron von Berger is perfect. The “Lucifer” is fine & strong & impressive—majestically so, I think. Ries is a quaint & naïve, & interesting young creature— Russian. She dropped the fact incidentally, that her grand hellion there in the corner (Lucifer) was begun as the Virgin, but looked too masculine for the part, so she turned the Mamma of God into Satan!

A good change. The Mother & Son have been a little over-worked. Jesus died to save men—a small thing for one immortal to do, & didn’t save many, anyway; but if he had been damned for the race that would have been an act of a size proper to a god, & would have saved the whole race. However, why should anybody want to save the human race, or damn it, either? Does God want its society? Does Satan? [NB 42 TS 51].

Joe Twichell replied to Sam’s Dec. 10. He related running into Isa (not further identified) at the Warner’s, she being embarrassed by the meeting since she’d been a “royal old drunk” at his classmate’s place in Richmond some time before. He also had to suffer through a service with the wayward young man he’d written of before sitting with his parents and his new bride, but the man had the “grace” enough not to make eye contact. The man had gotten another woman pregnant, deserted her, then became engaged with another woman; Joe had written about it in an earlier letter. He added:

Your letters are hugely interesting, every one of them. Many a time I have wished to goodness I could give passages out of them to the press. But I haven’t and I won’t—unless you give me leave….Your correction of the false rumor of your violent expulsion from the parliament e.g.—what harm in letting Charley Clark print that? By the way, in yours of the 10th inst. you spoke of some other people’s letters you were going to send me with it, but you forgot them finally.

…

So your brother Orion has ended his pilgrimage. Our memory of him is of a gentle and amiable spirit— remarkably disposed to the things of good will. May he rest in peace [MTP].