February 19 Wednesday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote to Rev. L.M. Powers of the Universalist Church in Haverhill, Mass., a collector who had requested autographed copies of books:
You make it so pleasant for me to say yes, & so easy, that I can’t say no although my conscience demands it. I do smoke, though not to excess, there not being hours enough in the 24 for that.
February 18 Tuesday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote to Robert Bridges, declining an invitation as he was to “go yachting in the southern seas” at month’s end [MTP].
Fatout lists Sam reading unspecified stories at a Boys Club in N.Y.C. [MT Speaking 670], undoubtedly from this entry in Sam’s notebook: “4.30 p.m. At The Boy’s Club. Corey Fund meeting. (Letter from Wm. H. McElroy, 135 W. 95th.) / Must try to get there. / Dinner to Julie Langdon, my niece” [NB 45 TS 4].
February 17 Monday – Sam’s notebook: “Geo. Iles & Mr. Montgomery, artist, coming, 4.15 p.m.” [NB 45 TS 4].
Elisabeth Marbury sent Sam another statement for two weeks of the PW play and a check for $22 for his royalties [MTP].
February 16 Sunday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote to Frederick A. Duneka asking for “a travel-book or two,” on the West Indies, preparing for his next yachting trip with H.H. Rogers. He also requested A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom by Andrew D. White (1901). Clemens also referred to a book he was writing:
Old Point Comfort is a point of land located in the independent city of Hampton, Virginia. Previously known as Point Comfort, it lies at the extreme tip of the Virginia Peninsula at the mouth of Hampton Roads in the United States. It was renamed Old Point Comfort to differentiate it from New Point Comfort 21 miles (34 km) up the Chesapeake Bay. A group of enslaved Africans was brought to colonial Virginia at this point in 1619. Today the location is home to Continental Park and Fort Monroe National Monument.
Norfolk is an independent city in Virginia, United States. As of the 2020 census, Norfolk had a population of 238,005, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Beach and Chesapeake, and the 96th-most populous city in the nation. Norfolk holds a strategic position as the historical, urban, financial, and cultural center of the Hampton Roads region (sometimes called "Tidewater"), which has more than 1.8 million inhabitants and is the 37th-largest metropolitan area in the U.S., with ten cities.
Jacksonville is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of northeastern Florida. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonville consolidated in 1968. It was the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020, and became the 10th largest city by population in 2023.
Rum Cay (formerly known as Mamana and Santa Maria de la Concepción) is an island and district of the Bahamas. It measures 30 square miles (78 km2) in area, it is located at Lat.: N23 42' 30" - Long.: W 74 50' 00". It has many rolling hills that rise to about 120 feet (37 m).
The island is believed to have acquired its modern name from a shipwrecked cargo of rum. The main settlement is Port Nelson. Its population was recorded as 90 as of 2022. Before 1996 the island was part of a combined district of San Salvador and Rum Cay.
The Castillo de San Pedro de la Roca (also known by the less formal title of Castillo del Morro or as San Pedro de la Roca Castle) is a fortress on the coast of the Cuban city of Santiago de Cuba. About 6 miles (10 km) southwest of the city centre, it overlooks the bay. The fortress was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1997, cited as the best preserved and most complete example of Spanish-American military architecture.
Historically Santiago de Cuba was the second-most important city on the island after Havana, and remains the second-largest. It is on a bay connected to the Caribbean Sea and an important sea port. In the 2022, the city of Santiago de Cuba recorded a population of 507,167 people.