June – Sometime during the month, Sam wrote from either Hartford or Elmira to Charles Webster, suggesting the text and layout for business envelopes, which included “Personal Memoires of General Grant” in red ink [MTP].
Sam’s notebook carries an entry recalling Sydney Smith’s (1771-1845) famous line, “Who reads an American book?” [Gribben 650]. He also noted to “Get Carlyle’s Essays” [MTNJ 3: 160]. Sam also noted “Perfect: About ben Adhhem & the Rubiyat,” referring to Leigh Hunt’s poem, “Abou Ben Adhem.” Sam used a phrase from Hunt’s poem in Ch. 9 of IA: “may his tribe increase!’ [3: 159].
Ulysses S. Grant finished a letter he began Mar. 1885 [MTP].