December 29 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Mr. Handy, declining an offer of some sort.

“What with business & idleness unsystematically mixed, I seem to have to keep humping myself all the time” [MTP]. Note: Handy is not further identified. The famous songwriter by that name would have only been 12 years old.

Sam also wrote to Charles Webster. He made a brief reference to some savings from their “terra cotta experiments” (Kaolatype); about putting extra cash into government bonds for a short time since the bankers and Samuel G. Dunham probably would not want to be paid early; and about seeing Dana on the Pope’s book, the percentages of profits to offer (50 percent to 67 ½, if necessary). If Webster wasn’t able to go immediately he was to telegraph Sam and he would go down and manage things through William Laffan [MTP].