July 5 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Howells that he’d finished The Adventures of Tom Sawyer but “didn’t take the chap beyond boyhood,” a development that Howells had recommended. Sam doubted that any magazine could pay him enough to publish the book, and used figures Harte had received from Scribner’s for comparison.

“You see I take a vile, mercenary view of things—but then my household expenses are something almost ghastly.”

Also, Sam had won an ally in James R. Osgood to legally challenge William F. Gill’s unauthorized use of names [MTL 6: 503-4]. Note: AMT 2: 552 also gives this as the finish date for TS.