Vol 3 Section 1088

property. Due official notice of this will reach you presently” [Several more pages of plans and ideas were given, and suggestion that Mr. Rogers might want to pass upon the matter before Sam decided what to do [MTP].

August 7 Sunday – In Lee, Mass. Sam wrote to Joseph Gaylord Gessford, photographer.

I asked you for prices. But it was merely a formality. I always do that. But I always expect the pictures to be sent to me free of charge. I was expecting it in this case, for I had expended upon you more than a hundred & fifty dollars’ worth of my time—gratis, as it turns out.

You made an appointment for a definite purpose—viz; to make some pictures for the Berkshire Topics. Very well, the engagement holds good. But you must not use any of the pictures outside of that paper, either to sell, exhibit, or give away [MTP].

Susan Crane wrote to Sam.

“Before your thoughtful letter of the 31st came, the papers had made us anxious, nevertheless I found a certain relief in knowing the facts from you, bad as they were—What a marvel that Jean was not instantly killed. How could it happen?” She also wrote about her late husband’s gravestone which was “not as large as Susy’s, and is marked as I suggest, without even the place of birth / September 26, 1831 / July 3, 1889. In the other case [Livy’s] it may be better to add Elmira / Florence, Italy. Let it be just as you wish” [MTP].

August 8 Monday – In Lee, Mass. Sam sent the “TO WHOM THIS SHALL COME” note to Mary Elizabeth Phillips and added, “Miss Mary E. Phillips / Lee, Aug. 8” [MTP].

Sam also sent the “TO WHOM THIS SHALL COME” note to Elizabeth S. Wood and added, “Mrs. Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Wood. Aug. 8” [MTP].

Joseph Gaylord Gessford replied to Sam’s Aug. 7. “affrontery” that he had merely asked for prices of the photographs as “a formality”: “I could no more afford to give you these pictures than you can afford to write

books for free” [MTP; Madsen 68-9].

Houghton Mifflin & Co., Boston wrote to Sam that they “took pleasure” in sending him a complimentary copy of The Penobscot Man (1904), by Mrs. Fannie Hardy Eckstorm (1865-1946). “We believe that years ago you took a trip up Katahdin and down the West Branch with the same Lewey Ketchum, who figures in two of the stories. For this reason, if for no other, we trust you will find them of interest” [MTP]. Note: Lyon wrote at the bottom, “Away indefinitely or would send thanks himself.” See Gribben 211.

Florence Wood (aka Mollie Morris, aka Mollie B. Shoot) wrote from NY to ask Sam if he had sold the dramatization rights to P&P. If not she would like to read the manuscript as she was looking for a play for her daughter. “I still treasure the photos of yourself & family, which you gave me years ago. I have felt the greatest sympathy with the trials & sorrow you have passed through. … Formally Mollie Shoot of Hannibal” [MTP]. Note: Wood was her stage name, Shoot her maiden name, Morris her married name. A note in the file refers the scholar to the subject file of Pavey, Jesse H. and Family.

August 9 Tuesday

August 10 Wednesday – Sam went to N.Y.C. Sam’s notebook: “New York. Clara here, sick—never well since June 5. Jean is at the summer-home in the Berkshire Hills, crippled” [MTB 1224: NB 47 TS 17]. Note: Clara was recovering from a nervous breakdown suffered after Livy’s death. Sam stayed in the City until Aug. 16 when he left for Great Neck, N.Y. on Long Island to stay with the Broughton family.

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