March 7 Thursday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Redpath & Fall. Sam remitted less than his bill and haggled over the balance for hiring a train to reach an out-of-the-way lecture. In response to ills plaguing the two men, Sam wrote:

Dear Afflicted: /Fall does the carbuncles, Redpath does the boils—hire me to do an abcess & Nasby a tumor, or a wen, or something picturesque, like a goiter, for instance, & let’s open the Lyceum Course at Music Hall with an exhibition, with appropriate music & a cold lunch. It would be the sensation of the season, if Redpath’s boils are strikingly situated. We could get some surgeon to take the baton & lecture while the panorama moves [MTL 5: 54].

Sam also wrote to Orion, who had accused Elisha Bliss of fraud and cutting corners on the publishing of Roughing It. Orion had grown restless in the job without the independence he felt he should have, and he either was fired or quit. Sam sent Livy’s advice, to forget the whole thing and be grateful he was “free from a humiliating servitude.” Sam would soon question Bliss about Orion’s charges, even though he felt Orion’s attack on Bliss was “indefensible” [MTL 5: 55]. Note: Orion had lasted barely a year on the job secured for him by his brother.