May 26 Wednesday – Invoiced by James Lidgerwood & Co., fine groceries, New York, 200 Concha cigars $21.70; Bill paid May 29 [MTP]. Sam would have had credit at this and other N.Y. establishments. W.H. Daggett billed Sam $2 to put awnings up; paid May 28 [MTP]. The May 31 bill from Western Union shows a telegram sent to Elmira, recipient unspecified (see May 31 entry).

Osborn H. Oldroyd wrote from Springfield, Ill. to ask if Sam would write his “sentiments” about Lincoln on the enclosed sheet bearing Lincoln’s likeness on one side and the tomb on the other [MTP].

David Watt Bowser wrote from Dallas to Sam with the good news that he’d won the gold medal he’d been after for some time; in mental arithmetic. He was trying for awards in composition and general excellence [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “a boy’s letter”

May 26? Wednesday – William Dean Howells’s letter of May 23 reached Sam on or about this day. Howells reported that on his visit to Washington he conferred with President Hayes about copyright issues. Hayes responded that his administration would support a joint proposal of authors and publishers. Howells wrote he would ask Harper & Brothers to sponsor a plan giving Englishmen copyright if they had American publishers and vice versa [MTHL 2: 310].