April 19 Saturday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Frederick J. Hall. Sam’s business manager for Hartford affairs, Franklin G. Whitmore, had offered to invest $10,000 or $12,000” at a “usurious rate of interest — 8 or 10 per cent” and even preferred to buy an interest in Webster & Co. He had worked as a general agent for the company in 1888 for the Library of Humor. Sam advised Hall to take Whitmore on for a year and then see if an interest might be sold him. At first Sam spoke approvingly of the idea:

But even if he were a partner, it ought to be expressed in the contract that he must always be subject to your orders. He suits me very well, for my uses, and he would still come up here and do my work every Sunday and retain his present salary ($500 a year.) Of course you might find him useless to you; so it would never do to sell to him without a full year to study him in. He is perfectly honest, and can be entirely trusted; but on the other hand there is nothing of the negociator in him; he couldn’t make a contract with an author or a binder or a printer; he often has good judgment, but seldom any courage.

Sam later added a “Private” after his signature,

Mrs. Clemens is opposed to it. She says take the money and pay as much interest for it as you want to, but keep entirely clear of the man [MTLTP 259-60].

Did Livy really exert such opinions? Or, did Sam simply think it over and change his mind, not wishing to recant or re-write the letter?

Orion Clemens wrote to his dear brother:

I am afraid you are in trouble. You make wonderfully few mistakes for a man whose fields of literature and business are both of extraordinary boldness….If a spring crevasse has temporarily flooded the play, the machine, the new book, and the publishing business, it will be gone by summer. In the meantime, if there is any way I can help you, let me know. I hope my work, of which a sample is inclosed, will prove profitable to you. [MTP]. Note: several pages of historical research followed.

Frederick J. Hall wrote hoping Sam was thinking over his last letter about the need for an increase in capital. The endorsed note was received; Hall noted Sam’s words (not extant) about Gen. Sherman [MTP].

April 19 Saturday ca. – In Hartford on or just after this day Sam answered Robert J. Burdette’s Apr. 14 letter about stealing ideas, plagiarism and the like. Sam made clear distinctions in this matter, admitting that he “never had an original idea in” his life.

…and never have met anybody that had had…..Nothing is ours but our language, our phrasing. If a man takes that from me (knowingly, purposely) he is a thief. If he takes in unconsciously — snaking it out of some secluded corner of his memory, and mistaking it for a new birth instead of a mummy — he is no thief, and no man has a case against him. Unconscious appropriation is utterly common; it is not plagiarism and is no crime; but conscious appropriation, i.e., plagiarism, is as rare as parricide [MTP].

Also on or after this day Sam wrote a short note on an envelope to Frederick J. Hall: “Brer, tell him I approve” [MTP].