March 15 and 16 Monday – Sam wrote to Thomas Bailey Aldrich, best known for his 1869, The Story of a Bad Boy, a sort of forerunner to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Sam read the book but claimed not to have been influenced by it and did not like the prose style [Rasmussen 7]. Aldrich had visited earlier in the month and had sought Sam’s help on his current work, Prudence Palfrey. After several pages of suggestions, Sam wrote the next day (Mar. 16) of premature labor pains for Livy, who was not due with their second daughter, Clara, for three months. Aldrich had offered to “buy a brewery” to get Sam to visit him in Boston. The trip had to be postponed, and the Clemens family would leave sooner than intended for Elmira [MTL 6: 74].