April 5 Tuesday – In Hartford Sam responded to the Apr. 4 letter from Richard Malcom Johnston (1822-1898), Georgia educator, lawyer and author of Dukesborough Tales (1883). Johnston was a “dialect humorist.” Sam would include a story from Dukesborough Tales, “The Expensive Treat of Colonel Mosels Grice” in Mark Twain’s Library of Humor (1888). Gribben writes that this story “is widely believed to have influenced the drunk’s bareback riding act that so astonishes Huck Finn in chapter 21” [357]. Johnston was looking for a publisher; Sam explained they were overloaded with books and that for subscription sales to be done properly, no more than two books a year should be published. Sam added,

I thank you for your note. It is pleasant to my eye to see your handwriting [MTP].

On or shortly after this date, Franklin G. Whitmore wrote for Sam to Charles Webster about a book on Mexico. If the book could be obtained for “a very low royalty; 2 ½ to 3 p cent.” Sam approved closing the contract [MTP].