April 16 Monday – In New York Sam wrote with optimism to Livy:

Well, dearheart, Mr. Rogers feels so much encouraged about Websterco’s probable ability to pull through alive, that he suggested, without me saying anything, that we hold on & try to work out, paying a hundred cents on the dollar & finally closing the concern out without any strain upon its name. Mr. Rogers has been at Websterco’s several times & kept close watch upon its affairs, & has kept it out of financial trouble by the strength of his name — and with his money, too, the other day where two or three thousand dollars were immediately necessary.

Sam also reported that he was going to talk to John Brisben Walker of Cosmopolitan “about beginning the serialization” of Joan of Arc in the fall. Though Sam preferred the Century, Rogers warned it was “having rough sledding, & isn’t safe.”

Sam also announced that Tom Sawyer Abroad by Huck Finn issued this day in New York and London, which surprised him because he thought it wasn’t to issue until fall [Hirst, “A Note on the Text” Afterword materials p.24, Oxford ed. 1996].

Note: it was the last publication issued for the bankrupt Webster & Co. It is interesting that just two days before filing bankruptcy, both Rogers and Sam felt the company could weather through. The reasons why, according to Sam’s Apr. 20 to Livy, had to do with the “rigorous attitude” of the Mt. Morris Bank, a principal creditor. See Hall’s quote in the NY Times article of Apr. 19 below.