February 13 Saturday – Sam wrote from Cleveland to Livy. “(10AM) I have been here two hours in a splendid state of exasperation. I went to bed in the cars at half past nine, last night & slept like a log until 7 this morning, & woke up thoroughly refreshed” [MTL 3: 88].
He discovered that he’d missed a lecture date in Alliance, Ohio made by Abel Fairbanks, a date unknown to Sam. That evening Sam gave his “Vandals” lecture in Ravenna, Ohio.
Sam wrote letters from Ravenna that evening including this to Livy:
I am able to inform the blessedest girl in all the world that the lecture to-night was a complete success —& they said, as usual, that it was the largest audience of the season, a thing that necessarily gratifies me, for you know one naturally likes to be popular. And it is Saturday night, too—think of it!—& I need not hide to-morrow, but can go to church morning & evening. Somehow I don’t often make a Saturday success [MTL 3: 94-95].
Sam wrote Olivia Lewis Langdon to reassure her though he had been somewhat wild as a young man, he was “never as a dishonorable one,” and had become another sort of man.
“I do not wish to marry Miss Langdon for her wealth, & she knows that perfectly well.”
Sam asserted that he had “paddled his own canoe” since age thirteen. The Langdons, as with any wealthy family, were concerned about gold-diggers. Livy’s share of the inheritance was about a quarter of a million dollars.

Sam also wrote Mary Mason Fairbanks about the successful lecture in Ravenna and his intent to lecture in Alliance the next night, which would “take the blame off Mr. Fairbanks’ shoulders” for the missed date. Since Alliance is farther south from Ravenna, Sam’s letter shows that he found lodging in Ravenna and traveled on to Alliance the next day.