April 23 Tuesday – In Paris at 169 rue de l’Universite, Sam wrote to J. Henry Harper, about the planned Uniform Edition of his works, about a 3,000 word short, “Mental Telegraphy Again,” he was sending to Henry Loomis Nelson for Harper’s Weekly, and about a contract he was about to sign: 

To-day I shall sign a contract which has just arrived from Melbourne, for a six to nine months’ reading tour next fall & winter in the Sandwich Islands, New Zealand, Australia, Ceylon, Madras, Calcutta, Bombay & other Indian cities, then South Africa & the Mauritius. After which I shall probably read in England a spell, then talk across America to Pacific coast & then back again through the Southern States.

And then die, I reckon. I & the family expect to reach the Everett House about three weeks hence — noon, May 18, & go thence to Elmira, NY, two days later. I would like to have (at Elmira) the M.S. or a type-written copy of Book III of “Joan of Arc” as soon as I arrive there, so that I can reduce it for the magazine. / Sincerely Yours [MTP].

Note: of interest is the evolution of plans for the world tour; several times Sam had mentioned San Francisco on the outward leg; here he planned an American leg at the end of the tour with return through the South. Initially May 18 had been booked, but was moved up one week to May 11.