November 27 Sunday – Livy’s 25th birthday. Sam gave her a copy of Snow-Bound. A Winter Idyl (1869) by John Greenleaf Whittier inscribed: “Livy/Nov. 27, 1870./From S.L.C.” [Gribben 767].

November 27 or 28 Monday – Diamonds were discovered in South Africa in the spring of 1870 and interest in the region was high. Sam wrote from Buffalo, “Will you Go?” to John Henry Riley. Sam wanted Riley to travel there and send back letters to publish into a book. It was a similar arrangement to that of Professor Darius Ford’s, that is, Sam would publish a travel book by proxy. He had dropped the “Around the World” entries in the Express after disappointing returns from Ford, but still liked the basic idea, and thought Riley was the right man. Sam would pay Henry’s passage and expenses and obtain letters with which to publish another travel book like Innocents [MTL 4: 250].