January 10 Thursday – Phineas T. Barnum wrote from Bridgeport to Sam: “This is a begging letter! Awful!! … Now my dear boy I come to you for a character!” he hoped it was not in vain [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env., “Answered Jany 13th/78”. Phineas wanted Sam to create a character useable for Barnum’s shows. Sam’s reply is not extant, but evidently he declined; see Barnum’s Jan. 14 follow up.

George P. Lathrop wrote from Cambridge, Mass. to reply to the card from Sam’s “secretary” asking who wrote the “Open Letters from N.Y. in Jan’y Atlantic.” He’d retired from the magazine but referred Sam to Howells for the answer [MTP].