December 20 Thursday – Sam inscribed a copy of The Stolen White Elephant to Joseph Lane.

To / Joseph Lane/ with the regards of / The Author. / ~ / Dec. 20/88.

Note: This may be Joseph Lane (1851-1920), British anarchist and one of the little-known founders of the libertarian socialist movement in Britain, author of An Antistatist, Communist Manifesto (1887). Or, more likely it was Joseph G. Lane, a wealthy Hartford grocer.

Harriet Jones wrote to Sam (Harriet Andrews of Art Soc. of Hartford to Jones Dec. 20 enclosed) to ask Sam to read at a benefit the last week in Jan. or the first week in Feb., 1889 [MTP].

Webster & Co. wrote to Sam, afraid he thought they’d telegraphed him unnecessarily the day before on the Webster buy-out matter, but they’d had “so much trouble with the mails lately.” This morning they’d received back the contract with Sam’s letter of suggestions, which would be “carefully acted upon.” They had not heard back from him on the matter of the Beecher notes and settlement. They had a proposal for a bookfrom ex-Governor (1867-1871) Joshua L. Chamberlain (1828-1914) of Maine, who had written a “History of the Fifth Army-Corps” [MTP]. Note: Chamberlain was a famous Union general who was at Gettysburg and Appomatox; his memoir, The Passing of the Armies was published a year after his death by Putnam & Sons.