November 26 Monday – Sam took Grace King to visit Smith College in Northhampton, Mass., where he evidently gave a reading. A list in his notebook for Smith included items for his talk/reading: Brer Rabbit, Golden Arm, Whistling story, Christening story, Browning’s Horse-race. In a letter the following day to her sister Nan, King described the trip to the railroad station:

Patrick the coachman, enveloped in furs [resembled] one of Tolstoi’s Russians, with his big cap and shaggy tippet [while] Mr Clemens was all sealskin except the tip end of a very red nose. I thought I would freeze in my seat as the open carriage dashed at full trot through the icy streets [MTNJ 3: 435n92].

Orion Clemens wrote worried about a “storm coming” and asking if Sam’s income might be less?

We have been talking with our agent about two other places. We can pay for either if receipts are going to continue as they have been; but if the machine may carry down so much of your fortune as to cramp you, let us know, and we will go no further in that direction [MTP].

Ms. Jessie M. Good wrote to Sam to answer a question for a contest she was entering with a $500 prize — “What well known poet was called ‘The Cool of the Evening’ and by what famous humorist?” [MTP]. Note: It’s not known if Sam answered, but it was Charles Lamb who first called William Wordsworth this name, which was later attached to Sydney Smith [American Notes and Queries June 1, 1889 p.50].