July 22 Saturday – In Elmira, Sam wrote a long conciliatory letter he marked PRIVATE to Elisha Bliss. In a July 20 letter Bliss answered Sam’s concerns and sent a few more chapters of proofs of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Bliss also had been sick, and objected to some of Sam’s suggestions. Sam’s wrote that his suggestions about shrinking the company were just that, and:

“With the suggestion I stop. My duty as a director & stockholder ends there. I shall not lose any sleep about it one way or the other.”

Sam suggested $500 rewards for the two canvassers who sold the most copies of Sawyer, hoping the sales could be done in September and October, with an issue date of Nov. 1. Sam added that he had a business proposition for Bliss “individually,” meaning outside of the company, and that he would discuss it with him in the fall when he returned to Hartford. Sam also wisely noted that many of the things they needed to discuss were better not to write about. He praised the chapter proofs as “nice clean proof” [MTLE 1: 82].

Sam also wrote to the editors of the New York Evening Post, no doubt intended for publication, about the irony of costs connected with postage due letters being sent to the Dead Letter Office [MTLE 1: 83].