Vol 3 Section 0706

Sam’s notebook: “To the sea-bath & fruit debauch again. Saw James Dodge’s wife, Miss Van Buren, McVicker, Dominick & others. They will come aboard 3.30. Sea colors—green, blue, bronze, purple, Woman bottled a sample of each to carry home. / Left after 3 p.m.” [NB 45 TS 6]

Sam’s ship log:

Friday, March 21. The sea-bath & fruit-orgy again.

Flock of visiting ladies aboard at 3.30 p.m.

Sea (in the harbor) a gaudy display of mingling & dissolving shades of four colors again: green, blue, purple, & a faint veneer of bronze. An Indiana woman bottled a sample of each to carry home & exhibit. This can be trusted—it came from Archbold.

Mr. Gladstone came at noon, on the part of the Governor.

At 2.30 we returned the visit in full force.

Sailed about 3 p.m. [MTP].

March 22 Saturday – Sam’s notebook: “Very hot in the staterooms last night. Governor of Nassau (Bahamas?) Sir Gilbert Carter. Have known him before. His secretary, Gladstone. Sailed at 4 pm. Arrived at Key West— uninteresting” [NB 45 TS 7].

Sam’s ship log: “Arrived at Key West. Niggers, mulattoes, whites, Spaniards, Cubans, & other human wreckage. Nothing of interest there, except for God. Apparently He is interested in anything that comes along” [MTP].

On board the Kanawha at sea en route to Havana, Cuba, Sam wrote to Livy.

By order, Hutton & I are devising an itinerary. Thus far, our idea is to go from Havana around the western end of Cuba, then curve back easterly & southerly, & halt at Jamaica; thence to Porto Rico; thence south to Martinique & Dominica; then come back north on the western side of the chain of islands, stopping at several.

That is it—in the rough. We can’t arrive at the particulars yet—but we must go to Martinique, for that is interesting.

Weather very hot—but cool on deck. …

…

As chief of the itinerary committee I ordered the captain to go to Key West & lie there four hours, then sail for Havana at 1 tomorrow morning & arrive at 6. I did not consult anybody. Mr. Rogers has just put his head in to say he is going ashore at Key West to consult a lawyer; says Key West is a dull hot place, & he doesn’t see any reason why he—

I told him he mustn’t interrupt the chief of the committee when the chief of the committee is writing letters.

Remember the flying-fishes in the Indian Ocean? I can see them now, darting & flashing over the waves like a flight of silver arrows.

I love you, dearheart [MTP].

Livy’s diary: “Mr. A.A. Welch took Clara to a concert tonight—& came out & spent the night. He left about noon on Sunday” [MTP: DV161]. Note: Archibald A. Welch (ca. 1860-1935), actuary and later president of Phoenix Mutual Ins. Co. of Hartford.

March 23 Sunday – Sam’s notebook: “Sailed 1 a.m. (90 m Reached Havana 7 a m Palm Sunday. Could not coal. Saw only 3 priests. Visited a church. At 3 or 4 drove in the Prado. Picturesque & interesting. Demi-monde street. ” [NB 45 TS 7].

Sam’s ship log:

Sailed at 1 a.m.

Reached Havana at 7 a.m.; 90 miles.

SLC used mourning border for most letters from Susy’s death on, then from Livy’s death on.