July 31 Tuesday – Herbert S. Philbrick, a boy from Liberty, Maine, wrote to “Huck”:

I like your book and you and Tom Sawyer and Jim. I think you are very plucky and know how to get out of scrapes awful well. I should like to know if you have ever heard any thing of the king and the duke since they were riding by (fence) rail…I wish you would write another book and tell us if Aunt Sally ‘civilized’ you. How old are you? I am thirteen [MTP].

Webster & Co. wrote to Sam (Beecher to Webster & Co. July 30 enclosed): The Beecher matter; the Scribner impasse; a note from Peale & Co. (agents); sales “slacked up a good deal” on the Sheridan book [MTP].