Vol 3 Section 0951

Pears and Mrs. Helene Picard with the note that he’d never seen them but had “corresponded for years” [MTP]. Note: Thomas E. Marr, Boston photographer took a series of pictures of Mark Twain in Elmira for Ladies’ Home Journal. See July 17 and 18; also Nov. 1903.

Sam also wrote to William Webster Ellsworth, enclosing a subscription to a fund for the widow of James B. Pond. Pond died on June 21 after a leg amputation [MTP].

Sam also wrote to George Walbridge Perkins, Sr..

Enclosed please find $35, which is the hay-money I tried to smouch, but was warned in a dream & desisted.

Mrs. Clemens is still progressing. We send our kindest regards to you & to Mrs. Perkins, with our cordial acknowledgments of your many kindness to us.

We mourn Mr. Dodge as we have seldom mourned any one, whether friend or relative [MTP]. Note: See Aug. 1 to Perkins on the hay issue. See Aug. 13 for funeral of William E. Dodge, Riverdale neighbor.

Sam also wrote to Joe Twichell.

Livy sends “bushels and bushels of love” to you people, & says she sometimes feels well & sometimes does not (I grieve to say that to-day she does not), but she hopes to be well enough in New York to be able to see you & Harmony & say good bye. We land there Oct. 5, Hotel Grosvenor, 5th ave & 10th street, & I do hope & expect that by then she will be in greatly improved health and strength. We sail Oct. 24.

I feel perfectly sure Livy can see you in New York—she could not go away happy without that good-bye kiss. She is dearer & dearer all the time—if such a thing can be possible, considering that she was always dear to the limit. Indeed that kiss must be arranged for—for all the sakes concerned.

I was on hand at all the races, barring to-day’s. I was in New York the whole month under wearing & hateful compulsion of business, & the races were a blessed rest & diversion for me. I must go back soon & stay a few more days.

With lots of love to all of you, … [MTP]. Note: The U.S. yacht Reliance won three straight races frm the British challenger Shamrock III. The international yacht races ran from Aug. 20 to Sept. 3.

William W. Denslow wrote to Sam [MTP: Parke-Bernet Galleries Sale 248 Jan 15-16, 1941]. No text available.

September 2 Wednesday

September 2-15 – Sometime during this period at Quarry Farm in Elmira, N.Y. Livy wrote to Harriet E. Whitmore (Mrs. Franklin G. Whitmore) about the “very pleasant summer” at the farm with Sue Crane. Livy asked if Harriet would check in the Clemens’ safety deposit box to check the condition of her laces, and also to see if the ivory miniature of her taken at age 17 was there. She gave plans of the family to go to the Grosvenor Hotel on Oct. 5 and stay until Oct. 24 when they would sail for Italy [MTP].

September 3 Thursday – At Quarry Farm in Elmira, N.Y. Sam wrote to Will Larrymore Smedley in Chatauqua, N.Y.

“The picture has just arrived from Riverdale. It was received by the family with an explosion of Exquisite! exquisite!’ all down the line—& certainly if you ever owed me anything on benefits conferred, the account is more than squared” [MTP]. Note: Smedley had been allowed to illustrate a new edition of GA, perhaps by recommendation from Sam. See May 30 and Aug. 29.

Sam left Quarry Farm and returned to New York; or, he may have left early the next day, but boarded Rogers’ yacht Kanawha at 6 p.m. Sept. 4 [NB 46 TS 23].

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