January 14 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Edward House. Sam advised, there was “no course …left you for Koto’s protection but the marriage,” given the “precarious” nature of House’s health. Evidently his “adopted” Japanese daughter was in a family way and he sought Sam’s advice. He also asked Sam to suggest reading material and Sam gave this summary of his current reading:

In English, the middle portion of the Bread Winners; all of Clarissa Harlowe; the closing chapters of Pamela; the third volume of Saint-Simon; the fourth volume of Evelyn; the second volume of Pepys; the second volume of The Autobiography of a Whore; the third volume of Geike’s Hours with the Bible; & in German, the second volume of Schiller (the poems, I mean), the third volume of the Thirty-Years’ War; & the concluding chapters of Das Geheimniss der Alten Mamsell; in French, the tenth volume of Saint-Simon, and the fifth volume of Casanova. There—if none of this happy variety strikes you, you must be dam hard to please. I’m not a good person to apply to, because I seldom or never read anything that is new; & never read anything through, be it new or old [MTP].

Sam also wrote to Joe Goodman (the letter has been lost) [MTP Goodman to Sam, Jan. 22, 1884].

James R. Osgood wrote to Sam: “Unless I am prevented by rheumatism (which at writing seems only too possible) I shall be at your house on Wednesday 16th inst. on arrival of the 9 a.m. train” [MTP].

Sam also wrote to an unidentified person:

“Stephen—nothing became of Stephen; at least nothing had yet become of him up to a recent date. Stephen still lives; & his other name is Strother Wiley P.O. address, St. Louis; & if you wish to be beguiled, you have a chance” [MTP]. (See Feb. 13, 1875 entry for more on Strother Nimrod Wiley.)