(The following is from The New York Times Magazine, Aug. 12, 1917)

“One February day in 1888 a certain butcher at Saranac Lake, N.Y., sent a joint of mutton to the Baker cottage. At that time there was no railway to Saranac Lake, and perhaps that was the reason that the mutton seemed, to the occupants of the Baker cottage, not to be all that mutton should be. At any rate, one occupant of the Baker cottage grew very indignant over that joint of mutton and wrote concerning it the following letter:

“‘Mr. Robert Louis Stevenson presents his compliments to Mr. Oldfield and begs to return him the remainder of a joint of mutton which he refuses to either eat or pay for. Fillet of beef had been ordered as far back as Monday. Mr. Stevenson can readily understand there might arise some difficulty in supplying that; but at least Mr. Oldfield knew that Mr. S. would want something on Thursday; and Mrs. S. prefers to hope it was an error that Mr. O. sent him anything so perfectly uneatable as the joint of which he now has the pleasure to return in part.’

“The purveyor of meat kept this letter and his sense of humor recently led him to present it to Stephen Chalmers, Secretary of the Stevenson Society. It forms a part of the society’s collection of relics–a collection personal enough to gladden the heart of all true Stevensonians and bizarre and varied enough to satisfy R.L.S. himself …

“An especially interesting part of the Stevenson shrine is the picture gallery…There is a charming picture of two boys in kilts and balmoral bonnets. This is an enlarged print from an ambrotype. The boys are Robert Louis Stevenson and his cousin Lewis Balfour, later The Lewis Balfour of Eldred, Penn. The boys played together in Colinton in 1857, when this picture was probably taken …

“Of all Stevensonian letters, perhaps the most important are those written by Stevenson’s cousins and uncles in the early seventies, when his genius was unsuspected and grave doubts about his future were entertained. The letters were written to the Rev. Lewis Balfour of Eldred, Penn. (whose youthful portrait with his illustrious kinsman has already been mentioned), by Stevenson’s uncle, Dr. John Balfour…These letters were lent temporarily to the Stevenson Society by Mrs. Elizabeth J. Balfour of Olean, N.Y., widow of the Rev. Lewis Balfour …

“Among the articles intimately associated with the great dead romancer, the place of honor must be given to the velvet coat. This well-worn garment is among the first things sought by most visitors to Saranac Lake. Its chest measurement indicates that (William Earnest) Henley told the truth when he described his friend as ‘thin-chested, slight unspeakably.’ Stevenson’s embroidered velvet skull cap, his felt hat, his cape and his red sash are among the treasures of the collection. With them are his famous penny whistle or flageolet, the tapa mat which covered him in death, and the last pen he used. The point long ago rusted off the pen, and the butt end of the holder has been much bitten…

“In the Memorial Library are several autographed books with characteristic inscriptions. One of these, Child’s Birthday Book, was brought one day to R.L.S. for autograph by one of Mrs. Baker’s children (Blanche Baker) and Stevenson, who was much amused and interested by the numerous cats in the Baker household and the children’s love for them, wrote the following: ‘Train up a cat in the way she should go and when she’s old she will not depart from it.’

“Another copy of the Child’s Birthday Book belonged to Bertha Baker, now Mrs. J.H. Vincent. In it the novelist wrote: ‘All cats are born free and equal…’

“All Stevensonians love ‘Cummy,’ the nurse whom Stevenson called his second mother, to whom he dedicated A Child’s Garden of Verses. The collection is enriched by a portrait of her, taken at the age of 91, a year before her death in July, 1913. In a folded leather multi-frame are photographs of Stevenson showing him at various ages, from the baby in arms to the bewigged and begowned barrister …

“Readers of Stevenson’s biography will remember Po’e, the political prisoner whom Robert Louis Stevenson broke out of jail and refused to deliver up to the authorities. It was Po’e who afterward gathered together the chiefs who built the ‘Loho Alofa’ or ‘Road of the Loving Heart’ in gratitude to ‘Tusitala.’ In the collection is a permit signed by King Malietoa of Samoa, and a guarantee signed by Stevenson referring to Po’e. The permit is written on one side of a sheet of foolscap in Samoan, signed ‘Malietoa,’ and sealed with the Samoan royal seal. On the back is this guarantee:

“‘I hereby bind myself to pay the amount of one hundred dollars U.S.C. to the Treasury of the Samoan Government in case the faipule Po’e commits any breach of the above mentioned conditions imposed upon him.’

— Robert Louis Stevenson

“From W. MacDonald of Toronto, the Stevenson Society received a complete copy of one of the rarest of Stevenson’s writings–a poem which Stevenson addressed to Andrew Lang. It was meant to be published in Lang’s edition of Cupid and Psyche (London, 1887). It is said to appear in only one copy of the first edition of that work, having been suppressed–probably by Stevenson himself …”