December 18 Sunday – In Hartford Sam wrote to H.C. Christiancy, of the Detroit Custom House who wanted to know if Sam would pay the duty on pirated books (Roughing It in this case) seized at the Canadian border. As the law then stood, Sam had the right to deny entry of pirated material, but in order to seize it, would have to pay import duties on the material. Of course, Sam objected mightily This is a much-quoted and evidently un-mailed letter where Sam vented his spleen about government, laws, Congress, copyright laws, and the Post Office [MTP].

Sam also wrote to Orion and Mollie Clemens and his mother, Jane Clemens.

Dear Orion & Mollie & Ma:

Will you take this $15 & buy some inconsequential trifle that will help you to remember that we remember you? We are scrimping like devils this year, on account of the type-setter, or we would send check enough to buy a horse, or part of one.

Sam expressed hope that the typesetter “must be done by the first of May, or all signs lie.” He also passed on a humorous incident about young Jean Clemens (age 7):

Jean is just a bird! & developing more & more fascinations every day. Yesterday Clara heard her swearing; spoke of it at dinner to-night. Livy nearly fainted; taxed Jean for particulars; Jean couldn’t remember, but after reflection said “it wasn’t anything worse than hell.” It was a great relief — to me. I was fearing something serious. I caught Jean overhearing me recite to a book agent the other day, & I am not willing to believe that this is all she profited by it [MTP].

Sam also wrote a similar but shorter letter to his sister, Pamela Moffett, also sending $15 [MTP].

Mrs. J.E. Clarke wrote from Ashford, Conn. asking Sam for aid to buy cushions for her church [MTP].

Sydney M. Dickens, in Decatur, Ill. wrote “many thanks” to Sam for a photo. Sam wrote on the envelope, “Miss Dickens — grand daughter of Charles Dickens” [MTP].

Prof. Horatio S. White at Cornell University wrote to Sam, on noticing he’d had the “Jumping Frog” book twenty years, a gift from his friend, Daniel Willard Fiske. “There is a kind of moral tonic in their good-humored and pictorial satire which is keenly exhilarating to the mind; and what has sometimes been described as cold cynicism in many of the sketches has uniformly impressed me as healthy common sense” [MTP].

Check #  Payee  Amount  [Notes]

3946  Orion Clemens  15.00