December 25 Friday – Christmas – In the wee hours, Sam wrote Livy:

“I love you more than I can tell. And now is the time to love—for on this day the Savior was born, whose measureless love unbarred the gates of Heaven to perishing men….I must to bed. I ride 20 miles in a cutter to-day, & lecture tonight at Charlotte.”

Sam went to Charlotte, Michigan, and found letters waiting from Livy and her father. That evening he gave his “Vandals” lecture [MTL 2: 352-3].

Clemens wrote Jervis Langdon a letter that is now lost [MTL 3: 6n4].