February 23 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Edward House. Koto left her shawl behind and Livy was getting it ready to mail as Sam typed the letter. He told of receiving English notices on P&P the day before and did a bit of bragging about being the “recipient of a most gaudy English in-come, from three books which cannot be pirated.” He explained the type written letter as him being “brim full of rheumatism and it gives me an excellent excuse for practicing typewriting on you.” The “whole gang” was sick “but none of us sick enough to hurt” [MTP].

Sam also wrote to Miss Noyes (daughter or grand daughter of General Edward Noyes, b.1832?) who evidently had sent Sam a composition, which Sam complimented. He also asked the question:

“Wasn’t it your Academy which employed David Grey [sic] & me to judge the essays & award the prizes, once? Precious few thanks we got for the piece of honest work which we turned out upon that occasion.”

If Sam was correct in associating this Miss Noyes’ Academy with the above, it would suggest the recipient of this letter lived in Buffalo. The General returned to Cincinnati this year after being replaced as U.S. Minister to France. Sam told of the evolution of his Saturday Morning Club and offered advice for the girl’s “Thursday Class”—talk, don’t try to write and share papers [MTP].

“We’ve got a young girls’ club here, too. It is six or seven years old. I’ve been a member of it from the start; & I’m the only young girl of my sex that is. They waived sex, in my case, because they preferred solid wisdom to perfunctory technicalities. (Perfunctory is a pretty good word, though I am a little dim as to its meaning.)” [MTP].

Orion Clemens wrote “anxious to learn” Sam’s opinion of his autobiography [MTP].

Solon L. Severance wrote from Cleveland, shocked by the death of Dan Slote. Did Sam plan to “come out this way?” [MTP].

Harold Turner wrote from Hannibal, Mo enclosing a SASE for an autograph [MTP]. Note: the SASE in file, unused.