December 8 Tuesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to William Dean Howells, about work on the “pilot articles.”

“I could wind up with No. 4, but there are some things more, which I am powerfully moved to write. Which is natural enough, since I am a person who would quit authorizing in a minute to go piloting, if the madam would stand it. I would rather sink a steamboat than eat, any time” [MTL 6: 305-6].