January 7 Monday – From Sam’s notebook, more about the typesetter:

Monday, Jan. 7 — 4.45 p.m. The first proper name ever set by this new key-board was William Shakspeare. I set it, at the above hour; & I perceive, now that I see the name written, that I either mis-spelled it then or I’ve mis-spelled it now [MTNJ 3: 443].

Kate Dodge for Sewing Soc. In Rock Island, Ill. sent Sam a piece of silk asking him to write his name with pencil on it and return it with $1 for a quilt to help build a new Methodist church there. The silk piece remains in MTP’s file, which denotes Sam’s answer [MTP].

Orion Clemens wrote to Sam that the financial “storm” referred to in the past was in fact “a tornado!” and he wished he could help. He felt sorry for Charley & Annie Webster. In other news he revealed they’d bought and paid for the house today — “everybody says wonderfully cheap—$3,100. We paid $1100 and borrowed $2,000.” He’d done some legal work; Ma suffered from rheumatism; Charley Webster “will sport at Long Branch, take Helen (the maid) by herself to Washington, and make her a $500 Christmas present.” He criticized the lawyers there on the R.T. Root trial [MTP].