February 28 Monday – An article attributed to Sam, “The Blondes,” was printed in the Buffalo Express. The article criticized a dancing troupe called the Lydia Thompson’s Blonde Burlesque Troupe.

By some unexplained law of human nature, the farther below insult a person is, the easier it is to insult him; the nearer he comes to being a beast, the more rigidly does he demand to be considered a gentleman; the lower he is sunk in character and position, the more delicately sensitive he is, and the quicker does he take fire at criticism.

Now who would suppose that those Lydia Thompson Blondes could be insulted? —or anybody connected with them, male or female? The idea seems grotesque, and yet those people are as dainty in their feelings, and are as easily wounded and as cruelly smitten by any little unkind allusion to their supernatural nastiness, as if they really had a reminiscence of decency still lingering in some out-of-the-way corner of their systems [McCullough 157]. Note: see also Krause, p.44 for analysis of Sam’s editorial position.