December 29 Thursday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Webster & Co. That it would be best not to bind the Custer book just yet as it could not be canvassed; the better use of the money was elsewhere [MTP].

Meanwhile, Charles Webster answered Sam’s suggestion of Dec. 28 that he take a $800 hit on his salary to hire W.E. Dibble:

I do not see the justice in me relinquishing $800 of my salary and paying it to Dibble toward his when I get but a third of the profits. My salary has always been small I think I can say without fear of contradiction…. You talk as though you were paying me the salary, this is not so. I earn it myself….

My health is poor and if it is thought that I do not earn my salary I am willing to make some arrangement to retire from the firm but as long as I am a member I do not feel like relinquishing any of my share in the firm [MTLTP 241n2]. Note: Obviously, Webster was a beaten man at this point, and in poor health. Dibble was hired, but this source labels it “his last significant involvement with the firm.” (See Feb. 16, 1888 entry).

Frederick J. Hall for Webster & Co. wrote to Sam asking about an autobiography of Lillie Langtry,one that would “create a great deal of excitement in Society,” and sell “fifty or sixty thousand” [MTP; See also MTLTP 236n1].

Charles J. Langdon wrote to Sam and Olivia thanking them for their Christmas gift. “Mother seems well in body, but I can see that she is not so well in mind” [MTP].