April 7 Thursday – In Hartford Sam replied to Grace W. Trout’s Apr. 7 inquiry about her sister lecturing without experience.

It is an idea which many people have had, but it is of no value. I have seen it tried, many & many a time. I have seen a lady lecturer urged upon the public in a lavishly complimentary document signed by Longfellow, Whittier, Holmes & some others of supreme celebrity, but — there was nothing in her, & she failed. … There is an unwritten law about human successes, & your sister must bow to that law, she must submit to its requirements. In brief, this law is:

L..       No occupation without an apprenticeship;

2. No pay to the apprentice.

Sam suggested Grace’s sister learn her trade in two years apprentice, accepting only $10 a week plus expenses, and putting such an offer to Major James B. Pond.

Try it, & do not be afraid. It is the fair & right thing. If she wins, she will win squarely & righteously, & never have to blush [MTP].

Sam left Hartford for a Union Veterans Assoc. of Maryland Banquet in Baltimore.

Mrs. C.M.R. Gorton (Ida Glenwood) a blind writer in Fenton, Mich. typed a letter to Sam and enclosed a flyer on her book, The Fatal Secret, which she asked him to buy and read [MTP].