November 9 Tuesday – Thomas Nast wrote to Sam, complimenting him on Sketches, and in what may or may not have been intentional humor, Nast poked at Clemens by praising the piece inserted by Bliss to fill a rather empty page, a sketch that Sam had not written!

“I think that the short piece ‘from hospital days’ is the best thing it contains, and am so sorry that the publishers will commit the error of leaving it out next time. Yours Truly, Th Nast” [MTP]. Note: later states of the book are without the sketch, although some still list it in the contents.