December 19 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Frank Fuller at the Windsor Hotel in New York. Sam wrote he would drop having the music box fixed until he was “out of this awful press of work.” Elisha Bliss had regained control after his son Frank Bliss had confessed his ambition was beyond his ability. Elisha imposed a 2,600-page count (MS pages) on Sam for A Tramp Abroad, and so the work dragged on [Powers, MT A Life 433]. The Dawson invitation matter was still bugging Sam, as Dawson replied back that he “should give out that.” Sam was coming, “& would shoot me if I made him lie, & so on. So much for ever having anything to do with a stranger” [MTLE 4: 182].

William E. Strong wrote from Chicago to Sam: “Yours of the 14th inst. rec’d. The letter of the 6th Nov. is just what I wanted. I thank you very much for it. There is no letter among my 300 which I prize more highly.” Strong advised he’d sent a box “containing a full set of cards, programmes & printed matter” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Gen. Strong ’79 / Army Tennessee”; Sam’s Dec. 14 not extant but see Nov. 6 for his other to Strong.