September 12, 1894 Wednesday

September 12 Wednesday – In Etretat, France Sam finished his Sept. 11 to J. Henry Harper. He wrote but a few lines about inserts to the MS and of missing later segments that he suggested the French custom house might have taken:

…still, they wouldn’t want literature that isn’t indecent, would they? [MTP].

Bainbridge Colby, the assignee of Webster & Co., cabled Sam:

September 3, 1894 Monday

September 3 Monday – Sam finished his Sept. 2 letter to H.H. Rogers.

Monday morning, Joan. I hadn’t any trouble there. That is a book which writes itself, a tale which tells itself; I merely have to hold the pen.

Sam had written ten or eleven thousand more words for six days of work so far in Etretat, and planned it as a two-volume work:

September 2, 1894 Sunday

September 2 Sunday – In Etretat, France (“In bed — noon”) Sam began a letter to H.H. Rogers that he finished Sept. 3.

The facts are distorted in that “Sun” squib. (When you see it in the Sun it ain’t so.) [See Aug. 15 for Sun article, which is possibly the one Sam referred to.]

September 1, 1894 Saturday

September 1 Saturday – At the Chalet des Abris in Etretat, France, Sam wrote to Charles W. Dayton, New York Postmaster about a notification of a registered letter sent from Austria.

I am all in a tremor & a sweat to get that registered letter from Austria, for I feel almost certain it is the Emperor resigning in my favor. Do shove it right along…[MTP].

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