January 13 and 17 Friday – Sam wrote again from Hartford to Whitelaw Reid, acknowledging receipt of $100 for his two letters on the Sandwich Islands. Sam wrote about buying a lot in Hartford, but then crossed out the passage. On Jan. 17 Sam added:

“…it appears I’ve got to lecture, after all—At least I am wavering & am almost ready to give in—but I’ll have to talk only a mighty few times if I talk at all. On ‘Sandwich Islands’—& you must not report me like Fields—you’d desolate my richest property” [MTL 5: 270].