July 18 Saturday – In Aix-les-Bains Sam wrote to Andrew Chatto, responding to a letter (not extant). No, Sam said, he wanted a letter of credit from Brown Shipley & Co. for the amount of Chatto’s check, as there was “nothing so convenient & so handy” as one of their “ordinary circular letters of credit.”

It is most kind of you — your offer about books — & if you’ll send me your catalogue of books that are not fiction, I shall eagerly make a selection. In my present (or approaching) labors, I can make use of almost any facts that fall in my way — history, travel, biography, statistics — nothing in the domain of fact will come amiss — but I can weave in fiction enough of my own, you see. Sincerely Yours [MTP].

Sam also wrote a laundry list of items and concerns to Franklin G. Whitmore, his business agent in Hartford. He asked Whitford to “drop a line to each & all of my royalty-victims,” advising them that the sale of his Paige interests (to Marshall H. Mallory) had fallen through. He had not heard anything further from Mallory. Whitmore had ordered repairs to the Hartford house roof and furnace, and Sam noted they came out cheaper than he’d expected. Sam enclosed Chatto’s statement and advised he’d been sent the money. Please contact the American Publishing Co. if they failed “to pay up. Due July 1.” The family had had a smooth voyage. He ended with,

Glad to see by the papers that the courts didn’t hang Brer Robinson & the other directors; My arm hurts, now [MTP].