July 24 Wednesday – G.&C. Merriam Co., Springfield, Mass. wrote to Sam:

We see that Mr. Winston Churchill in “The Crisis” states that a stateroom on a river boat derives its name from the fact that the first staterooms with wooden partitions instead of curtains were named after different states and that the texas was so called (after the annexation of Texas) as being a structure “annexed” to the states or staterooms.

We do not know whether there is any basis in fact for this etymology or not and it occurs to us that you may be able to aid us in tracing the story to its source, as we see that you frequently use the word texas in your “River” books [MTP: Word Study (Newark, NJ) Nov. 1933, p.5]. Note: Churchill later claimed his idea had been mischaracterized.