March 23 Monday – In Riverdale, N.Y. Sam wrote to Charles Hopkins Clark, still editor of the Hartford Courant: “Do not trouble about me, I am prepared to go. I have laid in a long supply of heavy clothing. Also a fan” [MTP].
Sam also wrote to an unidentified woman, who had sent him a MS. He thought well enough of it to have carried it to Harpers on Mar. 19.
I seldom go to New York, for my wife has been ill in bed 7 months, & I stay at home all the time; but I could not well explain to the Harpers without carrying your letter & post-card & MS & attending to it in person. Which I did, four days ago, but have been ill in bed myself since & could not write you till now. They promised that if they did not use your MS they would return it to you. I suppose you will get it again, for in truth it is not literature but only an unliterary statement of facts, & their periodicals are devoted exclusively to literature. I beg you, dear Madam, to excuse my brevity—I am still in bed, but I know I ought to send you a line without delay [MTP].
Mrs. W.J. Beattie wrote from Littleton, N.H. to Sam. “I think you are the funniest man living, so I write to ask you to contribute a letter to be put into the ‘Post Office Department’ at a church sale April eighth. We propose to sell these letters, all written by famous men, and get a lot of money” [MTP].