September 15 Friday – William A. Seaver wrote from NYC.

My dear old man:— / Usually there is a great breeze amongst the snobs of N.Y. who do the briny in yachts, on the occasion of the Annual Yacht race of the N.Y.Y.C. on the third Tuesday of Sept. I am and have been since the 24th of July, a jolly tar, living on board the yacht Petrel avec my wife, and generally one or two gosling girls or tough old matrons as guests. Next Tuesday I shall take the hel-lum, and have invited Judge Brady, Bret Harte, Bromley and Brooks to come and see me do it. Should you have any business in N.Y. on that day, or could make any nefarious pretext to get away from the horrors of home, come down to me. I have bunks on board adapted to any beam, and can make you as jolly as an old sand-boy. / I think the idea has merit. / Yours, / Wm. A. Seaver [MTPO].

“Slang, Slander & Co.” wrote a postcard from Manchester, England to ask:

Do you think that any people, ancient or modern (except the noble Greeks, to whom the Yankees resemble in so many respects) ever accomplished such feats in true art, literature and all higher pursuits of the human mind, which distinguish man from the beast of the field (I forgot: cocktail drinking, chewing and spitting) than the North Americans? / Would you not undertake to read a lecture on his subject to your countrymen in order to make fools wiser and knaves better? [MTP].