January 29 Monday – In New York at Sherry’s, Sam attended a reception held by the Kindergarten Association. From the NY Times of Jan. 28, p.13 “The Social World”:

Mrs. Kate Douglas Wiggin and F. Hopkinson Smith will read manuscript stories at the reception of the New-York Kindergarten Association at Sherry’s Monday evening. Mr. Carl Schurz will preside. There will be musical selections at intervals. Mme. Nordica will also sing. At the close of the entertainment Mrs. Wiggins and Mr. Smith will auction off each other’s manuscripts.

On Feb. 12 Sam wrote to Livy about the event.

And did I tell you about the Mrs. Kate Douglas Wiggin & the sale of manuscripts? You see they had a great gathering at Sherry’s in aid of the kindergartens, & they had music, & then it was announced that Hopkinson Smith & Mrs. Wiggin would read unpublished articles & each sell the other’s MS. at auction.

Upon discovering that Smith had given her a type-written MS to auction, Mrs. Wiggin suppressed her anger and secured the same sum, $85 for his MS as he’d rang up for hers [MTP]. MTHHR p.18 notes that Sam “refereed a debate on kindergartens between the same Kate Douglas Wiggin and Mrs. Bisland Wetmore, not mentioned for this Jan. 29 event.. The date of that debate is given as Jan. 18 in Sam’s notebook: [Gribben 768; NB 33 TS 50-1]. See Jan. 18.

Sam continued the long letter (Jan. 27 to 30) to Livy.

When the anchor is down, then I shall say: 
“Farewell — a long farewell — to business! I will never touch it again!” 
I will live in literature, I will wallow in it, revel in it, I will swim in ink! 
Joan of Arc — — but all this is premature; the anchor is not down yet.