January 20 Monday – Sam wrote from New York to his mother and sister Pamela. (See Jan. 19) [Powers, MT A Life 647n26; MTP drop in letters].
My Dear Mother & Sister:
I received your letters yesterday postmarked 12th, & Pamela’s to-day postmarked 16th— Your arguments are strong—too strong to be refuted—& now I have no idea of going away without visiting St Louis first.
But I cannot now form an idea of when that will be. Sometime hence, I guess. If I could go by sea, it would be pleasant, but I dread the land passage in winter, notwithstanding the trip is short. Still, I would go anyhow, at once, if I had Orion’s affair settled. I was getting along well with it until last night. I am so situated that I can find out what the President is going to do a week before the other newspaper men—& last night I learned that he had concluded yesterday not to appoint Mr. Ely to the Commissioner of Patents, notwithstanding newspaper rumors to the contrary, but will appoint a Mr. Burroughs (this is private, of course.) So I shall have to start after Mr. Burroughs, now, whoever he may be, & run him to cover.
I know very well how to proceed, though. Success is the only question—not the only one, either—for the Senate generally makes it a point to refuse to confirm the President’s appointees.
I have a letter from Routledge the London publisher, asking me to write for his magazine—articles from 6 or 8 to 10 or 12 pages long, at $5 a page, gold—but I cannot write magazine articles worth a cent—if I could I would write for our own magazines—they pay a little more, or at least as much.
Routledge says he is delighted with the Jumping Frog book, & that it has a great sale in England. It has had a better sale in America than it deserved. It takes an awful edition to pay first cost, but it has done that— not many books do. I naturally suppose that now it will quit selling.
I called at Gen. Grant’s house last night. He was out at a dinner party, but Mrs. Grant said she would keep him at home on Sunday evening. I must see him, because he is good for one letter for the Alta, & part of a lecture for San F. Grant’s father was there. Swinton & I are going to get the old man into a private room at Willard’s & start his tongue with a whisky punch. He will tell everything he knows & twice as much that he supposes—will be glad to do it—& then we can use it as “coming from high authority” without betraying the old gentleman. But seriously we shall not print anything but just such matters as would tickle his vanity rather than give him pain.
Dan Slote will be disappointed to-night in New York when he comes after me.
[no signature; MTPO].
Powers lists this as the “probable” date Sam took a train from Washington to New York [Powers, MT A Life 233].
Sam wrote an untitled manuscript, which was never published and later known as “Colloquy between a Slum Child and a Moral Mentor” [MTL 2: 172n1]. Note: first source gives this as “about this time [Jan. 31]”; second source cites this date. Budd says it was written between Jan. and Mar. of 1868 [“Collected” 1007].
Elisha Bliss wrote to Sam.
Your dispatch [not extant] came to hand to-day, the reply to which you have doubtless received. I wrote you on Saturday, directed to Washington [Sam was in NY]. You probably have not received that letter, therefore I send you copy of it. Suppose you let it rest as I propose in that letter, until such time as we can get together and talk it over–that is if it should be impossible for me to go to N.Y. with in 2 or 3 days, for as I telegraphed you [not extant], I am sick and confined to the house [MTP]. Note: Bliss added if Sam wanted to know sooner he could visit in Hartford, which he did on Jan. 22. Clemens likely wanted to know royalty rates and other details such as planned date of publication, etc.