August 18 Thursday – In Great Neck, N.Y. Sam wrote to his niece, Julia Langdon Loomis (Mrs.Edward Eugene Loomis).

Julie dear, I was not able to leave town Monday afternoon in compliance with my engagement —I was worn out & broken down, so I gave up & went to bed at 8 in the evening. Next morning I reached your house by 9 or half-past, but you were gone: you, & Edward & all the dear Idas. I should have been very very glad of a glimpse.

Sour Weather in Florence – Roosevelt: “What he wants, he takes”– Butters a Fraud Mollie Clemens Dies – Dictating Autobio. – Pigs & Enunciator Wars – Donkey Attack Clara Hysterics – Livy, a Shadow – Charity Reading – Gelli’s Portrait

August 17 Wednesday – Sam returned to N.Y.C.. and signed a three-year lease with James A. Renwick for the house at 21 Fifth Avenue in N.Y.C. at $3,500 per year [Hill 97]. He checked in on Clara again at Dr. Parry’s, and learned that Jean was on crutches in Lee, Mass. He then returned to Great Neck [Aug. 18 to HHR; Aug. 18 to Loomis]. Note: the house would undergo repairs and be ready for the remaining Clemens family in November. Insert of 21 Fifth Ave.(corner; next to Brevoort House).

August 16 Tuesday – Sam stayed the night in with the Broughtons in their country place in Great Neck, Long Island, N.Y. [17 Aug. to Lyon, Aug. 18 to Loomis].

August 15 Monday – Sam was in N.Y.C. and had planned to go to Great Neck, Long Island to stay with the Broughtons, but was fatigued with taking care of business so went to bed at 8 p.m. and delayed the trip for a day [Aug. 18 to Loomis].

Livy’s last will and testament was filed in N.Y.C. The New York Times, Aug. 16, p.7 noted:

MRS. CLEMENS LEFT $35,000. ——

Author’s Wife Willed Property to Him and Two Children.

August 14 Sunday – Rev. Minot Judson Savage wrote from Billrica, Mass. to Sam, enclosing a small, fold-out schedule of his sermons and books.

Dear Mr. Clemens: / I have followed you & your work ever since I heard you lecture in Grass Valley, Cal. In 1866. You have given me more hours of pleasure than any other living writer.

Now, in your sorrow, I wish I could help you. I do not expect to. I am not so stupid as to offer you “consolation.” ….I only want to say to you that I wish I could make your burden lighter [MTP].

August 12 Friday – Jervis Langdon II wrote to Sam.

August 11 Thursday –

Mary Dunham in Lenox, Mass. wrote a short note of condolence to Sam [MTP]. Note: She signed it York Harbor; the postmark is Lenox.

Candace Wheeler wrote a short note of condolence to Sam, “to break the silence.” She felt Livy was a “freed soul” [MTP].

Sam’s notebook: “2 years ago Livy was stricken, at York Harbor, 7 in the morning. From that time until the fatal 5th of June, 1904, she never saw a well day” [NB 47 TS 17].

August 10 Wednesday – Sam went to N.Y.C. Sam’s notebook: “New York. Clara here, sick— never well since June 5. Jean is at the summer-home in the Berkshire Hills, crippled” [MTB 1224: NB 47 TS 17]. Note: Clara was recovering from a nervous breakdown suffered after Livy’s death. Sam stayed in the City until Aug. 16 when he left for Great Neck, N.Y. on Long Island to stay with the Broughton family.

August 8 Monday – In Lee, Mass. Sam sent the “TO WHOM THIS SHALL COME” note to Mary Elizabeth Phillips and added, “Miss Mary E. Phillips / Lee, Aug. 8” [MTP].

Sam also sent the “TO WHOM THIS SHALL COME” note to Elizabeth S. Wood and added, “Mrs. Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Wood. Aug. 8” [MTP].

Joseph Gaylord Gessford replied to Sam’s Aug. 7. “affrontery” that he had merely asked for prices of the photographs as “a formality”: “I could no more afford to give you these pictures than you can afford to write books for free” [MTP; Madsen 68-9].