June 26 Friday – Sam wrote from Elmira to his mother, Jane Clemens, enclosing a letter from his old childhood friend, “Puss” Tabitha Quarles, now Greening. Puss wanted a loan to buy a hotel in Hunnewell, Kansas. Sam had spent many idyllic summers at his uncle Quarles’ farm with Puss.

Now I must not venture a cent, at present. I need every penny I can raise; & I may have to borrow a hundred thousand dollars within the next few months, to apply upon General Grant’s book.

Sam suggested his mother send Orion to Hunnewell to see if:

…Puss can make a living out of that hotel, and if a thousand dollars will answer Puss’s purpose, you furnish her the cash & I will make you perfectly safe by giving you my note at 6 per cent interest—or 7, if that is the interest you get out there. Of course, Puss will never be able to pay back a cent—I don’t expect it & I don’t want it, & probably wouldn’t take it if she offered it—but I want her helped, & I will see that you don’t lose a penny. Lovingly, Sam [MTP].

Sam also wrote a letter of encouragement to Karl Gerhardt: “You can’t help making a noble statue of the General, even if you only catch glimpses of him & get no regular sittings” [MTP].

Karl Gerhardt wrote to suggest that Jesse Grant’s child’s bust in bronze would make them a nice present. “How does it strike you?” [MTP].

Robert U. Johnson for Century Magazine wrote to advise Clemens he’d been “elected to membership” in the American Copyright League Committee along with Gilder and Poultney Bigelow [MTP].