April 18 Sunday – Ola A. Smith (b. ca. 1854) wrote from Haverhill, Mass:

Mr. Clemens, / Gracious Sir;–

      You are rich. To lose $10.00 would not make you miserable.

      I am poor. To gain $10.00 would not make me miserable.

      Please send me $10.00 (ten dollars). / Very respectfully yours / Ola A. Smith [MTP]. Note: Sam received all sorts of begging letters, from pithy to verbose. He ignored most of these. This letter bore a drawing of a young boy peering into a butterfly net while butterflies few over him. Smith was from a family of artists. Sam wrote on the env., “O my !”

E.A. Whiting, Hartford billed Sam $2 for some arborvitae trees; bill marked paid [MTP].