March 10 Tuesday – In Hartford Sam wrote a short letter to the Chattanooga Republican, which ran in the Mar. 15 edition of that paper:

My Dear Sir — The original of Col. Mulberry Sellers was never in Tennessee. He was a man whom I knew familiarly during several years in Missouri, and some of the most extravagant performances attributed to him in the book were not inventions but facts of his life — the stove with a candle in it, the raw turnip dinner, etc. I did not burlesque him — he shouldn’t have done it himself.

I did not give him the name “Eschol,” but another name. Warner wanted it changed to Eschol and I consented, not forseeing any harm. Yours truly, S.L. Clemens [MTP].

Sam also wrote to Frederick J. Hall, having evaluated the dummy mock-up of Mark Twain’s Memory Builder game. He liked it and thought cork might be preferable if not too expensive. He also addressed Hall’s “vexations” about the proposed Sherman book — Hall had advertised James G. Blaine would contribute to the updated Sherman book, but Blaine’s work on the appendix was delayed [MTLTP 270].

Frederick J. Hall wrote to Sam (Spaulding’s Feb. 6 to Hall enclosed) that he was enclosing a letter from Percy Spaulding, a junior parter of Chatto & Windus, regarding Kneipp’s Water-Cure and would advise when they would get the original. Also enclosed (not in the file) was the report for Feb. “It shows up very well, although a large portion of it owing to a deal on a lot of seal Sheridan that we had on hand which we sold to Watson Gill at a low price but at a profitable price” [MTP].