November, mid – Sam, visited unannounced the offices of The Atlantic Monthly at 124 Tremont Street in Boston to thank the unsigned reviewer of Innocents Abroad for a very positive review. This is the famous first meeting between William Dean Howells (who wrote the review) and Sam Clemens. Sam first saw James T. Fields, who had hired Howells. Howells recalled the day as chilly, “well toward the winter” [Howells 4]. Two other respected sources note the day as either “later in November or in December,” or “a chilly mid-November afternoon” [MTL 3: 382-3n6; Powers, MT A Life 1]. The exact date is conjecture. Sam stood out among Boston, or even eastern folks—he wore the famous sealskin coat with the fur out, which on the street Howells observed won “immense publicity.” It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.