February 19 Friday – From Hartford Sam answered P.T. Barnum’s letter of Feb. 18. Barnum had saved and forwarded batches of “queer letters,” unusual letters received from people seeking fame and fortune with the circus.

“It is an admirable lot of letters….Headless mice, four-legged hens, human-handed sacred bulls, ‘professional’ Gypsies…school-teachers who can’t spell—it is a perfect feast of queer literature!” [MTL 6: 389]. Note: in Sam’s day, queer meant odd.