January 26 Tuesday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Howells, who’d declined a Hartford visit in his letter of Jan. 24 [MTHL 1: 60-1]. Sam continued to wrangle a visit from Howells, who was pressed by duties at the Atlantic, and also stalled on his history of Venice project. Sam had decided to do a book on the piloting material, which eventually became Life on the Mississippi (1883). The seven Atlantic articles would be revised and become chapters 4 through 17. At this point Sam was agreeable to having Bliss publish the book. Sam had not been well:

“I’ve been sick abed several days for the first time in 21 years. How little confirmed invalids appreciate their advantages. I was able to read the English edition of the Grenville Memoirs through without interruption, take my meals in bed, neglect all business without a pang, & smoke 18 cigars a day” [MTL 6: 357].

Sam also wrote to Robert Watt, of Copenhagen, Denmark, responding to Watt’s letter sent through Christen T. Christensen, who had been the Danish consul in New York. Watt had sent letters, press reviews, and Danish translations of Sam’s work. Sam told Watt of the success of the Gilded Age play, and his Atlantic series. His plan at this point was to bring the Mississippi book out by November. Sam enclosed a picture of their new house on Farmington Avenue. “We take as much delight in our new house as we do in our new baby” [MTL 6: 359-60].

On or about this date Sam sent a picture of the new house to Louis Brush, a Hartford print-shop manager who played billiards with Sam [MTL 6: 362].

Julian Guido Troese Zubern wrote to seek a reference from Sam though he was a stranger. Zubern had fled Russia after helping a writer “who had hurt somebody’s feelings in the state” [MTP].