March 4 Friday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Howells, enclosing a letter from Jesse M. Leathers, a distant relative of Sam’s on his mother’s side who claimed to be the “rightful earl of Durham.” Sam thought Leathers was a great source for literary grist:

Now here is my little game: I won’t have this tramp under my roof, nor on my hands; yet at the same time he is a perfectly stunning literary bonanza, & must be dug up & put on the market. You must get his entire biography out of him, & have it ready for Osgood’s new magazine [never published]. Even if it ain’t worth printing you must have it, anyway, & use it one of these days in one of your stories or in a play [MTHL 1: 358-9].

The Gerhardts sailed for Paris to study five years on Sam’s nickel [MTP letter Mar. 5 to Fairbanks].

Western Union  bill for Mar. 31 shows a telegram to New York on this date (see entry for others).

Karl & Hattie Josephine Gerhardt wrote separate notes from NYC to Sam and Livy. Hattie’s: “I love you—I love you—I love you, I love you. And, well all I can say is we will make you very, very proud of us. I will try and write you a long letter…when we reach Paris” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Mrs. Gerhardt sailing day, Mch 5, 1881”