May 25 Friday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Thomas A. Edison. His letter illuminates his telegram of May 21 and his quick visit to Edison’s on May 22.

Dear Sir: I had only part of a day at my disposal, but I shall try again, soon, & shall hope to find you on deck & still open to invasion. However, I accomplished part of my mission, anyway: I spent an hour & a half with the phonograph in Dey street, with vast satisfaction.

I had had the hope that if I could see you I might possibly get my hands on a couple of phonographs immediately, instead of having to wait my turn. Then all summer long I could use one of them in Elmira, N.Y., & express the wax cylinders to my helper in Hartford [Whitmore] to be put into the phonograph here & the contents transferred to paper by type-writer.

Sam confided that his case was “pretty urgent,” that he needed two phonographs (Dictaphones), one to “load up” now and another when they left for Elmira in mid-June [MTP]. Note: See June 5.

Sam also wrote to family friend Candace Wheeler, turning down another invitation to her Catskills retreat near Mt. Onteora, N.Y.

Lord bless you I’d like to, but I dasn’t, & couldn’t. There is betwixt this & the end of next September no day that belongeth unto me. And as for Mrs. Clemens, if her remnant of strength holds out to get her to Elmira the middle of June, I am pretty sure she will be glad to lie down & rest the balance of the summer. The more I see of diphtheria the less I think of it as a spring recreation [MTP].

Webster & Co. wrote to Sam: “We have notified Mr. Whitford to have the case put over. Your check for $12.50 is received, also a request to send two copies of the ‘Library of Humor’ to Mr. Howells, care of Harper Bros. This has been done…” (Sheridan’s note to Webster quoted, about being ill) [MTP].