January 27 Tuesday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam responded to Harper & Brothers’ Jan. 26 inquiry:
I can’t tell very much about the Christian Science volume yet. Because of my interest in it, and of the richness and prodigality of the materials it keeps growing on my hands, and as I like the job I do not try to discourage it.
Sincerely Yours
P.S. I have several applications for this book, one with a guaranteed sale of so many copies. I like that idea, and I wish you would do some ciphering on it yourselves [MTP].
Sam’s notebook: “Franklin Chamberlain [sic Chamberlin], cheat / E. Bliss, jr, ditto / Paige, – – [ditto] / Henry A. Butters, ditto/ Irish lad that borrowed 50 cents of me on Hudson River boat & vanished” [NB 46 TS 9]. Note: Chamberlin, Sam’s Nook Farm neighbor, did not enjoy friendly relations with him; the source of the friction may have had to do with the strip of land Sam purchased from him. Twain never forgot someone who he felt shortchanged him.
Mois Gerson Jr. (Joseph “Faraway” Moses), son of the famed “Faraway Moses,” Mois Gerson, Sr., wrote from Montreal, a short note in French to Sam, mentioning Isaac Laudman. This is undoubtedly the letter enclosed in Laudman’s Jan. 28. Sam immortalized Gerson’s father, “Faraway Moses,” in IA chapter 35 [MTP]. Note: Likely Sam and his compatriots on the Quaker City excursion felt “Moses” was a better name than “Mois.” This letter identifies the son of “Faraway” and thereby the father. See also Jan. 28 from Laudman.
An unidentified person wrote from Riverdale, NY to Sam, relating how Plasmon had cured his/her dyspepsia. The letter is not signed [MTP].