– Sam wrote from Rome, Italy to Joe  Twichell. After discussing the  matter of a clock Sam had purchased, sending it home through Will Sage, which caused all sorts  of red tape, Sam sent compliments on Joe’s letters.

How I do admire a man who can sit down & whale away with  a pen just the same as if it was fishing—or something else as full of pleasure  & as void of labor…if I can make a book out of the matter gathered in your  company over here, the book is safe; but I don’t think I have gathered any  matter before or since your visit worth writing up. I do wish you were in Rome  to do my sight-seeing for me. Rome interests me as much as East Hartford could  & no more. That is, the Rome which the average  tourist feels an interest in; but there are other things there which  stir me enough to make life worth the living. Livy & Clara

[Spaulding] are having a royal time worshipping the old Masters, & I as  good a time gritting my ineffectual teeth over them [MTLE 3: 95].  

Sam also wrote  to an unidentified person,  regarding a certificate needed for a clock he wished to ship home.  He enclosed Will Sage’s letter to Twichell for reference and asked that the needed  document be forwarded care of Fraülein Caroline Dahlweiner (1818-1897), No. 1A,  Carlstrasse, Munich, where he would be about  Nov. 20 [MTLE 3: 96]. Sam’s notebook for this  day is full of commentary on various artwork.

Went to Barberini Palace to-day & saw my pet detestation,  Beatrice Cenci, by Guido.

In good art, a correct complexion is the color of a lobster,  or of a bleached tripe or of a chimney sweep there are no intermediates or  modifications [MTNJ 2:  240-1].