June 10 Monday – Sam wrote from the Königsstuhl in Heidelberg (near his rented den) to Bayard Taylor. His letter revealed his new daily routine: He only ate and slept at the hotel; in the mornings he walked to the…

“…second story of a little Wirthschaft which stands at the base of the Tower on the summit of the Königsstuhl. I walk up there every morning at 10, write until 3, talk the most hopeless & unimprovable German with the family until 5, then tramp down to the Hotel for the night” [MTLE 3: 60].

Sam also wrote regrets to the Paris Literary Convention (Congress), which had invited him to attend, in conjunction with the 1878 Exposition Universelle. French writer Victor Hugo led the Congress for the Protection of Literary Property, which led to the eventual formulation of international copright laws. (Hugo would suffer a mild stroke this month.) Sam expressed to Gray that if he went it would take a fortnight there and another fortnight to “get settled down into the harness again” [MTLE 3: 60]. Sam put in his notebook that the Emperor was ready to leave his bed again after being shot [MTNJ 2: 97].

“Stadtverordnetenversammlung.—27 [letters] tape-worm” [MTNJ 2: 98].