March 19 Sunday – Susy Clemens’ fourth birthday. Sometime during this next year, Sam wrote in The Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay, by Trevelyan: “Susie’s aphorism (age 4) ‘How easy it is to break things.’ Her first remark in the morning sitting up in bed” [Slotta 35].

Sam wrote from Hartford to Elisha Bliss. He was still unaware that Bliss had fallen significantly behind schedule on publishing The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, due to the many other books he was putting out, including De Quille’s. Sam asked if it would rush Bliss to canvass sales in mid-April. He was concerned about whether or not to delay Howells’ Atlantic review, which ended up being published many months in advance of the book’s availability. The book did come out until year’s end, which played a large role in Sam’s ultimate decision to publish his own books [MTLE 1: 33]. Note: the delay also afforded Belford to push pirated editions into the U.S.