December 1 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to an unidentified person who solicited an autograph. Sam responded that the “great question of the day” didn’t disturb him because he believed there wouldn’t be any eternal punishment, “except for the man who invented steel pens” [MTLE 2: 199].

December 1-15 Saturday –During this period Sam wrote to the Chicago Union Veteran Club:

“I am tied to the treadmill, hand & foot, hard at work, on what seems an interminable book, so I must not think of lecturing,—though I assure you that I would be considerable gladder to have talked for the Veterans than for any other institution in the country, if I were still on the lecturing war path” [MTPO: “Recent Changes,” Jan. 20, 2009: Chicago Tribune, Jan. 6, 1878].