February 10 Tuesday – Sam and Cable gave a reading in Opera House, Delaware, Ohio [MTPO].

Sam wrote from Columbus, Ohio to Livy (continued from above):

….After the show (& a hot supper, Pond & I did play billiards until 2 a.m., & then I scoured myself in the bath, & read & smoked till 3, then slept till half past 9, had my breakfast in bed, & now have just finished that meal & am feeling fine as a bird [MTP].

Sam also complained again about Cable keeping “his program strung out to one hour, in spite of all” he could do. Sam was especially sick of Cable’s piece, “Mary’s Night Ride,” a sentimental episode at the end of Cable’s novel, Dr. Sevier, where Mary Richling crosses Confederate lines to reach her dying husband [LLMT 236].

And it is in every program. This pious ass allows an “entirely new program” to be announced from the stage & in the papers, & then comes out without a wince or an apology & jerks that same old Night Ride on the audience again [MTP].

Sam also wrote to Charles Webster, pessimistic about upcoming sales of Huck Finn, and suggesting papers to send copies “bound & unbound” to. “Never send any to N.Y. Graphic,” he warned [MTP].

Cable wrote home of seeing Ohio Governor George Hoadly, and of his later visit to talk with Sam [Turner, MT & GWC 100].

Sarah E. Griswold wrote from Brattleboro, Vt. About her cousin the cigar manufacturer, a cripple since youth [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Order sent for one box of cigars”