January 29 Sunday – Harper & Brothers wrote to Sam.

We have an inquiry for the following sketches: “The Grateful Poodle,” “The Benevolent Author,” “The Grateful Husband,” which we are unable to indentify. Our correspondent states that all appeared in the Atlantic Monthly. It occurs to us that possibly these are not independent sketches or that the sketches were reproduced in book form under another title. Can you give us any information? [MTP].

On this day or just after Harper’s above letter arrived, Sam answered:

Read proofs of the above on board ship, in N.Y. Harbor. Sailing for Germany April 10, 1878. Broke with Blisses in 1881. So the above sketch was published in the Atlantic Monthly probably during summer of 1878 [MTP]. Note: These are three parts to the sketch, “About Magnanimous-Incident Literature,” each followed by a “sequel,” first published in the May [1878] issue of Atlantic Monthly [Budd, Collected I: 703-09]. Sam actually sailed on Apr.11, 1878.

Lucy McDowell Millburn wrote to Sam, complimenting him on JA and recalling she met him at Onteora when she was a guest of Mrs. Mary Mapes Dodge. At the time Millburn was so frightened that she did not speak [MTP].