November 25 Tuesday – Sam reached Bryn Mawr, Penn. too late to bring Susy home that day, and so had to spend the night. He wrote to Livy that Susy was “first rate.” It was in Susy’s parlor at 9:05 p.m. that he wrote his wife this short note:

We send a whole world of love to you. I’m going now to the cottage here on the grounds where I am to sleep. Goodnight, Dear Heart [MTP]. Note: it was Thanksgiving break at the school.

In Boston, Benjamin P. Shillaber (1812-1890) passed away of diabetes and heart failure [NY Times, Nov. 26, 1890]. Best remembered as “Mrs. Partington.” He was instrumental in Sam’s early literary career when he printed one of Sam’s first stories, “The Dandy Frightening the Squatter,” in the Boston Carpet Bag. See May 1, 1852. Note: Shillaber’s 1854 Life and Sayings of Mrs. Partington included stories about her nephew Ike; Norton notes that Ike influenced Sam’s creation of Tom Sawyer [50].