April 17 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to John L. RoBards, now an attorney in Hannibal, responding to an old offer to move the coffins of his brother Henry and his father, John Marshall Clemens, from the Old Baptist Cemetery, a mile and a half from Hannibal, to the newer Mount Olivet Cemetery, southwest of town, which RoBards had founded. Sam sent RoBards $100 for the service:

If Henry & my father feel as I would feel under their circumstances, they want no prominent or expensive lot, or luxurious entertainment in the new cemetery. As for the monument—well, if you remember my father, you are aware that he would rise up & demolish it the first night. He was a modest man & would not be able to sleep under a monument.

RoBards was one of the Marion Rangers, the Confederate rag-tags that marched around the Hannibal countryside when the Civil War began. In his letter, Sam expressed a desire to get back to Hannibal and even to give a lecture there for the benefit of the cemetery [MTLE 1: 44].

Sam also sent a note asking Bliss to forward the copyright requirement of sending two copies to the Library of Congress, Ainsworth R. Spofford librarian to secure the copyright [MTLE 1: 45].

Ainsworth R. Spofford, Librarian of Congress, telegraphed to answer Sam: “No the first publication in England is essential to Copyright there but previous entry here will secure you in the United States” [MTPO].