February 23 Saturday – Sam’s notebook: “(See Mar 2) University Club—dinner—7.30 o’clock. Stone’s at 9. Corey & Judge Howland” [NB 44 TS 6]. Note: Henry Elias Howland, (1835-1913), former Supreme Court Justice, president of the University Club, popular and witty speaker; William Ellis Corey. Stone’s is not identified. Sam initially misdated the dinner, which took place on Mar. 2

At 1410 W. 10th in N.Y.C., Sam wrote to Charles Erskine Scott Wood, who had seen the “Sitting in Darkness” article and written on Feb. 17: “I am glad you like it. By and by I mean to do it again. You must not fail to come and see me when you reach town” [MTP]. Note: Wood was an old friend from days at West Point; he was now an attorney in Portland, Ore.

Clayton Ewing of Peoria, Ill. and a Twain fan since boyhood wrote compliments of the “Sitting in Darkness” article, which he wrote “has all the marks of genius and, aside from its humor, is a scathing arraignment of sham and hypocrisy” [MTP].

Barton Stone Gardner of Evergreen, Calif. wrote a long letter of scripture and compliments of Twain’s “Sitting in Darkness” article [MTP].

Edmund Norton, “fighting death” in Paso Robles, Calif. wrote compliments of Twain’s “Sitting in Darkness” article [MTP].

The Academy ran an anonymous column, “The Literary Week,” p. 155. Tenney: “Briefly notes, quotes, and praises William Dean Howells’s ‘Mark Twain: An Inquiry’ in the North American Review” [Tenney: “A Reference Guide Third Annual Supplement,” American Literary Realism, Autumn 1979 p. 187]. Note: see also Mar. 30 for the magazine.