June 27 Thursday – Sam had received Howells’ June 2 reply to his May 4 Frankfort letter, in which Howells wrote: “Tell me about Capt. Wakeman in Heaven, and all your other enterprises”  [MTHL 1: 233]. Howells’ letter included news about Hay, Osgood, Waring, and Aldrich, briefly mentioning those traveling overseas. He included one sentence about Bret Harte gaining “a consular appointment somewhere in Germany,” and it set Sam off, calling Harte every name in the book and asking where in Germany Harte would be. “…to send this nasty creature to puke upon the American name in a foreign land is too much.” Sam felt his letter to President Rutherford B. Hayes had been ignored and he admitted he felt “personally snubbed” [MTLE 3: 66] Sam’s best news was saved till last—Livy’s income from the coal business had recovered; Sam wrote “we’ve quit feeling poor!” [MTLE 3: 67].