Vol 3 Section 0335
Do the doctors say they can help Judy’s husband? Then Kellgren can help him five times as much & ten or twenty or thirty times as speedily. Do they say he is past help? Their testimony is of no value—at least of very little value—being based upon vast accumulations of ignorance, with here & there a grain of knowledge.” Sam thought that Jean’s improvement under Kellgren nothing short of miraculous. “Every thing is thorough; no Christian Science silliness” [MTP]. Note: “Judy” was Julia Twichell (b.1869), Joe’s first daughter.
August 23 Wednesday – In Sanna, Sweden Sam wrote to General John Tatlock, Jr., 32 Nassau St., NYC. Only the envelope survives [MTP: eBay item 1839204511]. Note: Tatlock (d. 1902) was an astronomer and assistant actuary of the Mutual Life Ins. Co. of NY. He was also secretary of the Actuarial Society and a member of the American Mathematical Society.
Livy wrote to Chatto & Windus, asking if a half -calf or half- morocco edition of P&P might be sent with the other books requested, and if the books might reach Sanna by Sept. 10 [MTP].
August 24 Thursday – In Sanna, Sweden Sam wrote to Hans L. Braekstad
Unhappily for me I was obliged to telegraph a request to the National Theatre Director. Kellgren has promised to deliver me from an ailment of six years standing; I think it is rather plain that he is going to succeed; so it would not be fair to interrupt the process in the middle & risk the loss of the ground gained.
It is a great disappointment to me to miss that festival occasion. I know I am losing the opportunity of a lifetime. I thank you & the Director of the National Theatre most cordially for your kindness & courtesy in offering me a place among the guests [MTP].
Note: The National Theatre in Oslo, Norway, which traced its origins to Christiana Theatre (founded in 1829) would give its first performance on Sept.1. There were three “official” opening performances on subsequent days; Sam was likely invited to one or all of these. Hans L. Braekstad worked for the festival and was also a translator. He published Fairy Tales from the Swedish (1901). The Director of the National Theatre from 1899 to 1907: Bjørn Bjørnson (1859-1942), actor and director.
August 25 Friday – In Sanna, Sweden Sam wrote to T. Douglas Murray, who was working on publishing the Official Records of the Joan of Arc Trials in Rouen, and the “Rehabilitation.” Sam had agreed some time ago to write the introduction.
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Yours (undated) has arrived [not extant]. I do hope his Majesty will give you leave, & I am very glad you think the prospect of it so good….
I wrote the introduction a week or ten days ago, but have since been adding to it, & shall add some more. If I shouldn’t like what I add, I can easily burn it: There’s plenty of matches; Sweden is where they make them.
Sam added his reaction to the “incomparable sunsets” in Sanna—“They make of all others merely the gates of hell ajar or some other loud crude thing;…” [MTP]. Note: he may have forgotten the sunsets in Maui. See also Gribben 494. Murray’s book would not be issued until 1902 by Heinemann in London.
August 26 Saturday
August 27 Sunday
August 28 Monday
August 29 Tuesday – In Sanna, Sweden Sam wrote to T. Douglas Murray.
“Stop—I may be wrong; my bad memory may be deceiving me; I may be mistaken in thinking that the bulk of Joan’s history lies in the Rehabilitation Process. But you will know, & will pay no attention to me if I am in error. It is five years since I have seen the records.”
SLC used mourning border for most letters from Susy’s death on, then from Livy’s death on.