February 19, 1905 Sunday

February 19 Sunday – At 21 Fifth Ave. in N.Y.C. Sam wrote to Father Raffaello Stiattesi.

Dear Padre: / It was most kind of you to remember me, & I thank you very much. From what you say I comprehend that the fragrant countess [Massiglia] from the divorce-courts of Philadelphia has been destroying my character. It is all right (as we say), it does not disturb me. The character that she could destroy is not worth saving.

February 18, 1905 Saturday

February 18 Saturday – At 21 Fifth Ave. in N.Y.C. Sam wrote to Muriel M. Pears.

It was delightful to have you here; even the idiot butler wasn’t able to spoil it. (Wait—this doesn’t mean that I am entirely placated yet, but only partly, only largely; I am not forgetting that you did not let me know at once when you arrived.) A week lost. I wouldn’t have served you like that.

February 16, 1905 Thursday

February 16 Thursday – At 21 Fifth Ave. in N.Y.C. Sam wrote to Joe Twichell.

Dear Joe— / I knew I had in me somewhere a definite feeling about the President if I could only find the words to define it with. / Here they are, to a hair—from Leonard Jerome: “For twenty years I have loved Roosevelt the man & hated Roosevelt the statesman & politician.”

February 13, 1905 Monday

February 13 Monday – Isabel Lyon’s journal: This morning came a letter from Raffaello. He has been ill, he has lost money, and just now there is dearth of happiness in his life. / Every evening we have music. Jean plays her simple sweet music, and I play the wonderful Beethoven and Schubert. Mr. Clemens spends nearly all his day in bed, getting up only in time for dinner. Every afternoon he calls me for a game of cards [MTP: TS 40].

February 12 Sunday

February 12 Sunday – Samuel E. Belt wrote from Greenwood B.C. to Sam.

“I am collecting facts about the blowing up of the ‘Saluda’ at Lexington, Mo, being a nephew of the ill-fated Captain,” Francis Thomas Belt. He didn’t simply want an autograph but asked Sam for anything he might be able to tell him about the case [MTP].

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