January 7, 1875 Thursday

January 7 Thursday – James T. Fields, past editor of the Atlantic who remained active as a writer and lecturer, visited Sam in Hartford. Later that day Sam sent Fields the “original rough draft” of a poem, “Those Annual Bills,” together with a short note of thanks. Sam revised the poem sometime afterward and included it in Sketches, New and Old, paired with one from Thomas Moore’s “Those Evening Bells”, which it parodied [MTL 6: 342]. Note: Budd in “Collected”, p.1015 incorrectly lists “James M. Fields,” for Jan. 7, 1874. MTL: 6: 342n1 clarifies that Sam misdated the letter with poem included.