November 7 Wednesday – In the morning, from the Brighton Hotel in Paris, Sam wrote to H.H. Rogers, mostly about the Paige typesetter and its competitor the Mergenthaler Linotype machine. Reports up to now from Chicago had been encouraging, but the machine would soon start to break repeatedly. Sam related how long the Mergenthaler had been around, breaking down and continuing on:

When a bastard cripple like the Mergenthaler can fight its way up through ridicule & hostility during seven years to prosperity & a goodly share of respect, there’s no occasion for the Paige Compositor to have any doubts about the future.

Sam ended the letter with a paragraph headed “afternoon”:

Mrs. Clemens was in here a moment ago & asks to have her love & the children’s sent to Mrs. Duff, & I would like to add mine, & extend it to all of you. I suppose you will have to remain in New York for the winter, but I see how lonesome it is & must continue to be. I am glad to be in your minds there, & I wish I could be there in person. The Prince of Activity [Harry Rogers, son] is going to be useful, now, in that billiard room, until his game goes so far ahead of yours as to take the fun out of the contest. It won’t take long, I am afraid, because the rascal is so young — & youth is so exasperatingly capable. I will turn out, now, & go & see the people the new servants refer to. Sincerely Yours [MTHHR 92-3].

Chatto & Windus wrote to Sam that the illustration blocks had arrived and they were “quite ready to publish the book [PW] on Nov. 15th, but in deference to Mr. Colby’s imperative cable, we shall not issue the book until December 1st…” [MTP].