December 6 Thursday – Sam replied to the Dec. 1 from Eugene Fitch Ware aka “Ironquill”, the letter later appearing in the Dec. 16 issue of the Washington Post, p. E6. which contained Ware’s “compliment” and Sam’s reply:
Dear Mr. Ware:
I am an old brass-bound, copper-rivited, fire-assayed Presbyterian, with seventy-one years’ experience in unworldliness, & I don’t understand your metaphor, but I know it was intended as a compliment & I make it cordially welcome. / Sincerely…[MTP]. Note: see Dec. 1 from Ware.
Sam “rushed off” to Washington, D.C. “to attend hearings before the copyright committee” on Dec. 7 and 8 [Dec. 7 to Jean Clemens; Dec. 8 to Emilie Rogers]. Note: no prior plans for this trip were found; evidently Howells or someone else already in Washington alerted him that his presence might help.
Clemens’ A.D. of this day included: C1ara’s pious remark when her wounded hand was being treated—Jean‘s remark when Sam received dinner invitation from Emperor Wilhelm II—The emperor’s dinner—The official of the Foreign Office, and how he got a desired vacation, and retained it [MTP Autodict3].
Dr. Giovanni Nesti wrote from Florence, Italy, a short note in Italian to Sam [MTP]. Note: at the bottom is written “XII. 06.”
W.H. Dyer for the Middlesex Club “the oldest Republican Club in Massachusetts,” wrote to Sam, giving a long list of luminaries they had entertained, including President Grant. Dyer invited Sam to attend a dinner on the anniversary of Grant’s birth, Apr. 27, and to give an after dinner address, for which they would pay his usual fee. Mr. Thorndike Spalding would be in NY the following morning and would telephone [MTP].
Julien Tappan Davies, attorney, wrote from NYC to Sam. He had borrowed Sam’s moral question photos from a very good friend, Henry M. Flagler, and could not find them to return. “I have had the pleasure of meeting you more than once here in New York,” though he thought Sam did not likely remember him. Could Sam send him another set so he could return them to Flagler? [MTP]. Note: Flagler to Sam, Oct. 4.