March 3 Friday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to John Henry Riley praising him for his letters, “satisfactory as letters could be.” Then in a frank revelation of his frustration with how life was going, Sam blamed his misfortunes on Buffalo:

“I have come at last to loathe Buffalo so bitterly (always hated it) that yesterday I advertised our dwelling house for sale, & the man that comes forward & pays us what it cost a year ago, ($25,000,) can take it. …I offer the Express for sale also, & the man that will pay me $10,000 less than I gave can take that.”

Sam expressed disgust at his house being full of “doctors & watchers & nurses all the time for 8 months.” He wrote that he quit the Galaxy and wanted now to “simply write books.” Sam remarked on the “most celebrated man in America to-day,” Bret Harte [MTL 4: 337-8]. Note: Kaplan argues “it was impossible for him [Clemens] not to believe that Harte’s rise meant his own eclipse or that the tide had already turned against him.” No such sentiment is expressed in these letters, though it’s true that this period was not the best of times for Sam.