December 11 Friday – From Sam’s notebook:

“Howells says [from his Dec. 11 letter to Sam]: I’m reading Grant’s book with a delight I’ve failed to find in novels.” And again: “I think he is one of the most natural—that is, best—writers I ever read. The book merits its enormous success, simply as literature” [MTNJ 3: 217].

Julian Hawthorne wrote from NYC about voting at the Authors Club for Will Carleton the poet, and the subsequent “mistake” some made after Carleton won, contesting the vote [MTP].