Vol 3 Section 0604
ambition of each in his turn to hang this notable scalp at his belt. The young ladies were ambitious to convert him.”
August 12 Monday – Sam’s ship log: August 12, Monday. Yarmouth.
Fog-bound.
Trip in the launch.
Poker. No results [MTP].
August 13 Tuesday – On Rogers’ yacht Kanawha Sam wrote from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia to Livy.
There is nothing to say, dearheart, except that I love you. So I will say that, & repeat it, then go ashore with the gang & take a drive—for the fog is still prevailing outside the harbor, & will continue to do it until the wind changes—if that ever happens.
I have missed my afternoon nap, because of the industries of a single fly; so I have dressed & turned out, sleepy & homesick to see you all, & I am on the imminent verge of profanity [MTP].
Sam’s log: August 13, Tuesday. Yarmouth.
The outlying regions visited per wagon.
A fine picture gallery here. The sheriff photographed the garrison in its interest, with the exception of Harry and Mr. Clemens. [MTP; Dias, Odd Couple 102 partly].
August 14 Wednesday – On Rogers’ yacht Kanawha en route from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia to Bar Harbor, Maine, Sam wrote two letters to Livy. Sam’s first letter puts him at sea, his second at Bass’s Bay near Bar Harbor.
The fog rose, this morning, & we put to sea. Not for Halifax, however, for the news from there said that the region was still under the dominion of the fog. So we stood to the westward, & shall probably make Bar Harbor before night, & anchor there [MTP].
Remembering the cable that came about Susy’s grave illness some six years before (see Aug. 14, 1896 entry), he wrote again to Livy.
Livy darling, I am with you in spirit every hour, now, & I know how you are feeling as these sad anniversaries dawn & drag their course & decay. To-day is one of them—& I remember. Your mother-instinct warned you that there was danger & you went to the tragedy fearing it; but I was suspecting nothing, & the awful cablegram found me unprepared, & struck with force unmitigated. I wish I could be with you these days; I know what you are suffering, & although I could do nothing to relieve your pains by words, neighborhood & sympathy would be a help for both of us.
After his signature he added that they might still go to Halifax [LLMT 329]. Note: they did not go to Halifax.
Sam’s ship log: August 14, Wednesday. Sailed about noon; westward 80 or 90 miles.
Anchored in Bass’s Bay.
Poker.
Get another dog. Mr. Reed deemed it unsafe to entrust the ship to a dog-watch with only one dog in it.
Dias reports a variation on Sam’s ship log TS: “August 14 — Upon complaint of Mr. Reed, another dog was procured. He said he had been a sailor all his life and considered it dangerous to trust a ship to a dog-watch with only one dog in it. Poker for a change” [Dias, Odd Couple 102-3].
In Bar Harbor, Maine Sam gave a talk to some young people to demonstrate speechmaking. Fatout introduces Sam’s remarks, which were given in a later autobiographical dictation (Aug. 28, 1906):
SLC used mourning border for most letters from Susy’s death on, then from Livy’s death on.