March 1 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote a short note to Elisha Bliss that he’d “put off the Mississippi River trip till June” and that he’d write a new book in the meantime. He also sent a “private commendation” on the Gilded Age play to Bliss, noting that John T. Raymond was “stirring up a new sort of comment upon the novel” [MTL 6: 395]. Raymond’s portrayal did not fully satisfy Sam.

Sam also wrote to Orion and enclosed a check to pay Clinton Rice, an attorney hired by Orion in 1870 to find a buyer for the Tennessee Land. Rice had incurred expenses in the grand total of $11.70 and four years later was asking for his money. Sam hoped that the Tennessee Land was “now in hell,” didn’t “care a cent whether his demand is just or not,” and just wanted it “paid” [MTL 6: 396]. Note: One wonders if Orion didn’t sometimes, at least subconsciously, keep the land pot stirring as a way to aggravate his successful brother. The check was sold on eBay, June, 2009. It is check #52 drawn on the First National Bank of Hartford to Clinton Rice for $12 [eBay # 120435892109]. Sam rounded up the amount owed of $11.70. 

Sam also wrote to John Gibbon,  the military commander of Montana district, who’d sent compliments on reading The Gilded Age. Sam replied

“I naturally value [private commendations] more than I do the opinions of the mass of newspaper men…”

Not all the newspaper comment was positive when the book first came out [MTL 6: 398-9].

Sam was in a letter-writing mood. He also wrote to Howells who had written suggesting he and his wife could visit on Mar. 11. “All dates suit,” Sam replied [MTL 6: 400].