January 6 Sunday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote to thank Sam for his Jan. 4 letter praising the play. Howells was discouraged by the play’s draw in New England and didn’t suppose it paid expenses in Worcester, Providence, Springfield or Hartford; and he didn’t blame Lawrence Barrett for withdrawing. Howells supplied some feedback from the Brahmins to whom Sam had written apologies for Whittier’s birthday debacle:

“—I was with Mr. Longfellow the morning he got your letter. He spoke of it as ‘most pathetic,’ and said everyone seemed to care more for that affair than he did. I know you had the right sort of answer from him” [MTHL 2: 217].

Longfellow answered Sam’s letter:

I am a little troubled, that you should be so much troubled about a matter of such slight importance. The newspapers have made all the mischief…/ I do not believe that anybody was much hurt. Certainly I was not, and Holmes tells me that he was not…./ It was a very pleasant dinner, and I think Whittier enjoyed it very much [MTP].