January 2 Friday – In Hartford Sam wrote through Franklin G. Whitmore to the Secretary of the Clover Club of Philadelphia, declining their invitation for Jan. 15 to attend the ninth anniversary dinner. He pled previous engagements [MTP].

James W. Paige wrote to Sam of more problems on the typesetter:

The cast iron lever which owing to the poor quality of the iron broke the other day, and the cast iron part accidentally broken by Mr. Parker, have both been replaced by new, substantial and durable steel parts, and the machine has run since this time without bruising, breaking or damaging a type of any sort and gives promise of working continuously without delays of any kind. / This is the best New Year greeting that I can send you / Sincerely Yours [Kaplan 305; verified, slightly corrected at MTP].

J.D. Pyatt for Workingmen’s Free Library Committee of Lancaster, Penn. wrote (encl. in Webster & Co.’s Jan 9) to Sam of the success of “begging” for 1,000 books and begged a few from him [MTP]. Note: Sam directed two sets of his books to be donated, as shown by the Jan. 9 from Webster & Co.