December 30 Wednesday – Sam wrote in the morning from Cleveland to Livy and told her of the letter he’d written her father the day before. Sam confessed misgivings about his letters to Jervis Langdon, but also told her of Mary Fairbanks reading a letter from Mrs. Langdon, one favorably disposed to Sam.

“Solon Severance is coming early with a buggy New Year’s, & we are going to make calls all day long. He knows everybody—& we are going as a Temperance Phalanx, to shed a beneficent influence far & wide over this town!” [MTL 2: 363-7].

Sam traveled to Akron, Ohio, gave his “Vandals” lecture at the Methodist Church, and returned to the Fairbanks’ home in Cleveland.