January 27 Sunday – George W. Cable, visiting the Clemens home while on a reading tour, came down ill, probably with a case of the mumps, though Webster describes the illness as measles [234]. Kaplan describes it as a “fever and racking pains in his lower jaw” [254]. Sam hired a private nurse to care for his guest. The nurse and all three Clemens girls came down with the mumps [254]. Cable was nursed back to health but would be laid up at Sam’s until Feb. 15, preventing Sam from getting together with Howells to collaborate on plays [MTNJ 3: 47n107].