October 4–5 Monday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Livy, about fearing he “unsettled Mrs. Fairbanks’ mind, somewhat, concerning her Elmira visit” on account of the health of Jervis Langdon.
“Of course you needn’t go & tell the whole truth, as I have done, my dear contrary, obstinate, willful, but always just & generous sister—I can’t help telling the whole truth, (being similar to George Washington,) but you must. Otherwise I will muss your hair again” [MTL 2: 255-6].
Sam also wrote Mary Mason Fairbanks a humorous account of the carriage spill, and to Abel Fairbanks about pinning down a Columbus lecture date for the Associated Western Literary Association [MTL 2: 258-9].