September 14 Tuesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Howells about copyright issues. Howells had written about the letters by Charles Reade on the subject printed by the New York Tribune. Sam calculated more might get done with a petition personally carried to Congress. The first copies of Sketches, New and Old were soon to arrive, and Sam related he’d told Bliss to send a copy to Howells before anyone else. Sam noted that he’d:

“destroyed a mass of Sketches, & now heartily wish I had destroyed some more of them—but it is too late to grieve now” [MTL 6: 534].