Vol 3 Section 0734

Sam’s notebook entry lists ideas for the “50 years after” tale, never finshed [NB 45 TS 13].

G.A. Cartensen of the Rectory in Riverdale wrote to Sam. “I promised to send you the verses which I first heard when you quoted them at the end of a lecture on Artemus Ward about thirty years ago.” He had located the verses [MTP].

May 22 Thursday – Sam’s notebook: “Briercliff? / Join Mr. Wright here at 10.14 a.m. / Returning leave Scarboro at 3—something” [NB 45 TS 13]. Note: Howard E. Wright of the Am. Plasmon Co. The entry suggests the two men went to Scarborough, N.Y.on Plasmon Co. business. Briarcliff Manor, N.Y. is nearby.

May 23 Friday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote to James R. Clemens.

Insert: Planters House Hotel, St. Louis

I am thanking the both of you (& Muriel) very much, & am accepting for June 5th, 6 p.m., & next day &

maybe day after. With many thanks.

I leave here per N.Y. Central at 9.20 p.m., May 27th, & am due in St Louis‘ (at the Planters) at 7.30 a.m 29th (or maybe it’s 10.30;) leave there at 2 p.m. the same day & reach Hannibal at 3.15, where I remain 4 days & go to Columbia June 3d.

I leave Columbia the 5th at noon for St. Louis, & then am clear of duties & formal engagements & ready for a rest in the society of all the Clemenses we can get hold of.

I shall hope to see you at the Planters the 29th; you can’t be more than half a dozen blocks from there. I don’t go there to sleep, but only to wash. Bring some soap with you, & a towel [MTP]. Note: Planters House, originally built in 1837 as the largest hotel in the West, burned in 1882 but was rebuilt. James Ross Clemens was a cousin, and father of Cyril Clemens. Muriel Clemens was James’ infant daughter.

Sam also wrote to Philip H. Goepp to decline an invitation, as he was leaving for Missouri and wouldn’t return till mid-June [MTP].

Sam also wrote to Franklin G. Whitmore, declining an invitation, advising of his departure for Missouri, and sharing H.H. Rogers’ advice about a selling price on his Farmington Ave. home.

       Mrs. Clemens will be here to ’tend to business. And I told her a low price now, would be better than an expensive wait, & would be the equivalent of $5,000 more 12 months hence or $10,000 more two years hence. I arrived at this argument by a talk with Mr. Rogers, who said, “In my experience, when a man offers $35,000, he will stand from $5,000 to $15,000 more—you can’t tell which till you find out. If your agent knows the man, he can guess his limit; but a stranger can’t. Anyway, sell the house, & sell it now; even if you have to let it go at $40,000.”

That is his advice, & of course it is sound, & one must accept it, for Mr. Rogers is an old hand, & knows

[MTP].

May 24 Saturday – Livy’s diary: “Mr & Mrs Frederick Goddard here for luncheon” [MTP: DV161].

Mary A. Geisse wrote from Phila. to Sam, thanking him for “his prompt reply, also for your opinion of my work” (poems) [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “I tried to make this fool understand (without saying the naked brutal words) that she has neither talent nor genius with this damned result.”

Joe Goodman wrote to Sam from Alameda, Calif., promising to send “as a curiosity” a copy of his forthcoming book, The Archaic Maya Inscriptions (1902) to be published in London. The work was a translation of “the inscriptions on the ruins of Central America and Yucatan.” Joe added “there is no hope

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