January 30 Wednesday – Sam telegraphed from Hartford to Louise Cable: “Your husband will be out of bed by tomorrow S.L. Clemens” [Turner, MT & GWC 28].

He also telegraphed James B. Pond twice in Cable’s behalf that he would be unable to read the following night [MTP].

Sam also wrote to Mary Mason Fairbanks.

“Only a line, to say how glad I am, for dear Mollie’s sake—yes, & for yours; for you can’t be as indifferent to the thing as you seem. That’s all—I shall be cool & distant till you stop this dam nonsense of shirking Hartford every 3 months & then rushing home to apologize for it.”

Sam mentioned that Cable “has been sick in the house several days”; He answered Mary’s question about the Bill Ragsdale, Sandwich Island novel with:

“The novel? Yes, it’s serious; the scene is laid in the Sandwich Islands 65 years ago [before missionaries]; that is, the first part—second part is a number of years later” [MTP]. Note: Emerson reports that “Very little survives of what he wrote that January, only a few pages of description, although he had referred to it as finished. Nothing more was said about the manuscript” [160].

Jeannette L. Gilder of The Critic wrote to ask Sam’s opinion whether he believed in “cash down” or a % from Publishers to Authors for their books. The letter was a pre-printed form with name & signature added [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “D—d impudence”