May 18 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Howells, enclosing certain bylaws for a club he wanted to start, the “Modest Club,” which only required modesty to be a member. He was the only member so far, and would Howells like to join? He suggested others for members:

“Hay, Warner, Twichell, Aldrich, Osgood, Fields, Higginson, & a few more—together with Mrs. Howells, Mrs. Clemens, & certain others of the sex…I have long felt that there ought to be an organized gang of our kind” [MTLE 5: 105].

Sam also wrote to Franklin Whitmore in Branford, Conn., thanking him for some sort of wild game he’d sent. Livy was evidently down again, as Sam wrote,

“She is sitting up three hours a day, now, but is not allowed to quit her room yet—& won’t be, for some days longer” [MTLE 5: 107].

Frank E. Bliss, treasurer of American Publishing Co. wrote a check drawn on the First Nastional Bank, Hartford, for $536.27 for royalties of A Tramp Abroad. [Check for sale on eBay, Oct. 3, 2007, Item 280159464667].

Orion Clemens wrote to Sam with the bad news he didn’t “give satisfaction as local editor,” but that if they needed an asst. editor he could do that better. A headache prevented him from working on his autobiography [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Orion loses a situation”

A.G. Newman, NY mfr. Of burglar alarms, wrote it would cost $35 to have Sam’s alarm “Rearranged and a clock attachment added thereunto” [MTP].

William Wood, atty. wrote from Kingston, Mo. that he had never rec’d IA as promised and Bliss replied he had no order from Sam to send the book [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Not opened”; Wood wrote several times about a so-called promise and evidently when Sam saw another letter from him he did not open.