April 22 Thursday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Dean Sage to thank him for the visit and to explain why his thanks were somewhat delayed. “Howells & I fooled around all day & never got to the Centennial at all, though we made forty idiotic attempts to accomplish it” [MTL 6: 452].

Howells sent Sam the proof of the 6th installment of “Old Times,” asking if he could return it quickly, “for we’re getting short for time.” Howells also wrote, “You left your fur cap, which I propose to keep as a hostage” [MTHL 1: 73].