November 29 Thursday – Thanksgiving – In Paris Sam wrote to Henry C. Robinson, having received the wedding cards from his daughter’s wedding. Sam was sorry they wouldn’t be there and sent his congratulations. He related being “knocked down with gout in both ankles,” and though he was “up & about the house, now,” he was “not to go out for a week or two yet.”

Mrs. Clemens’s health is remarkably good & everybody remarks upon how well she looks. Susy is well again, & fatting up.

I‘ll bet you are having a pretty good turkey this evening. When you see Ned Bunce will you give him my love? [MTP].

H.H. Rogers’ letter arrived at 8 a.m. It was written after his return to N.Y. from Chicago, to investigate the problems reported on the Paige typesetter. This letter evidently brought the final bad news on the machine. Sam began his response and finished his letter on Nov. 30.

…I had a bit of a shiver & says to myself, “Clemens, stand by for a cyclone! for if Mr. Rogers finds it wise & best to remove his supports from under that machine, your fine ten-year-old dream will blow away like a mist & you will land in the poor-house sure.”

Then, just before the Thanksgiving dinner this evening arrived a letter from home announcing that Mrs. Clemens’s only brother is in alarming state of health.

It seems to me, take it all around, that President hasn’t chosen a Thanksgiving date with much judgment this time [MTHHR 99-100].

The Clemens family had only one unspecified guest for Thanksgiving dinner, and after the guest left had a long conversation until midnight about what must be done now that the typesetter had failed its final test [Nov. 30 to Rogers].