December 10 Wednesday – In Jefferson, Ohio, where he was visiting family, William Dean Howells sent a letter of condolence to Livy.

My dear Mrs. Clemens:

I did not think, when I wrote to poor Clemens the other day about his mother that I should so soon be telling you I grieved with you for the loss of yours. I am glad I knew your mother for to have known that gentleness was to have felt its blessing.

I am sorry for you with all my heart. Don’t vex yourself with any sort of answer [MTHL 2: 634].

Houghton, Mifflin & Co. wrote to Sam acknowledging his “of 8th inst. this morning” and they sent him Alexander Brown’s work, The Genesis of the United States. Sam wrote, “Pay it” on the env. [MTP].