April 6 Sunday – Sam’s notebook: “Smooth sea, sunny & pleasant. No cards. Reed played solitaire. ‘ignorant of music’ = Reed / Reached Norfolk midnight” [NB 45 TS 9]. Note: Sam’s ship log gave part of this report.
Livy’s diary: “Miss Forth & Miss Bowman here for tea” [MTP: DV161].
April 5 Saturday – On board the Kanawha off Cape Hatteras, N.C., Sam wrote to Livy.
Livy darling it is too bad, I forgot all about Frau von Versen. I hasten at this late day to send a couple of mottoes for you to choose from. I will mail them at Norfolk this evening, & they will beat me home, whether we get delayed or don’t. We are always subject to delays. …
We are off Hatteras, but it is not stormy.
With tons & tons of love.
April 4 Friday – On board the Kanawha en route from Nassau, Bahamas to Jacksonville, Fla., Sam wrote to Livy.
April 3 Thursday – Sam’s notebook: “2.30 p.m. called on Sir Gilbert & Miss Carter. / Sailed for Jacksonville at 3./ Appointed Rice to distribute the tips: six of us, $50 apiece, $300” [NB 45 TS 8].
Sam’s ship log: “A flying-fish 30 feet long. It was Rice that saw it. / At 2.30 called on the Government & Miss Carter. Sailed at 3. for Jacksonville” [MTP].
In his Apr. 4 to Livy Sam relates the repose in Nassau (Apr. 2 and 3):
April 2 Wednesday – Sam’s notebook: “10 a.m. Entering Nassau. The blues, greens & bronzes of this water at Nassau surpass all the splendors of any water we have seen. Visit of Mr. Gladstone. / Flying fish 30 ft long” [NB 45 TS 8]. Note: Sam’s ship log essentially the same report.
In Nassau, Bahamas, Sam wrote to Livy.
April 1 Tuesday – At sea on board the Kanawha en route to Nassau, Bahamas, stopped at Rum Cay. Sam wrote to Livy that they were “homeward bound,” though he was unsure when they might reach home, possibly Apr. 12 or 14.
All our prophecies go to grass. We go to places we never intended to visit, & don’t go to others that were on our list. We did not return to Havana, so I have never received any letters but those which you & Jean wrote me on the 19th [not extant]. …
April – The North American Review published Sam’s essay, “Does the Race of Man Love a Lord?” It was collected in The $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories (1906) [Budd, Collected 2: 1007]. Paine calls this piece “a most interesting treatise on snobbery as a universal weakness” [MTB 1164].
Sam also wrote one of his aphorisms to an unidentified person: “On the whole it is better to deserve honors & not have them, than have them & not deserve them.” [MTP].
March 31 Monday – The Kanawha sailed from Santiago, Cuba, to Nassau, Bahamas.
Sam’s notebook: “Sailed at 8 a.m. on a 2-day stretch due north” [NB 45 TS 8]. Note: Sam’s ship log essentially the same notation.
March 30 Sunday – The Kanawha made the port of Santiago in southern Cuba, where the men “visited the points of historical interest near Santiago” [NY Times Apr. 1, 1902, p.9 “The Kanawha at Santiago”].
Sam’s notebook: “Easter / Sailed early for Santiago. Rough. Arr. 3 p.m. at the Morro Castle. Prado. Queen’s …. [Square] Well kept cats & dogs. No smoking” [NB 45 TS 8].
March 29 Saturday – On board the Kanawha in Boden, Jamaica, Sam wrote to Livy [MTP].