February 14 Tuesday – In Florence Sam wrote to Miss Marian Phelps, daughter of William Phelps.

The purpose of this Valentine is to wish you well, & thank you cordially for your kindnesses to our Clara, & also to hope that you are happy & will remain so. …

The reason I am not writing with a pen is because I haven’t got one where I can put my hands on it. Also because Valentines are not written with pens, but always with a pencil. It is ancient custom, & amounts to law.

Sam also hoped that Marian’s father had accepted the judgeship offered by the governor of New Jersey. He enclosed an article from the Nation about the offer, and mentioned that the Hartford Courant reported Phelps had accepted [MTP]. Note: Phelps had suffered from the climate in Germany and at this time he was vacationing in Spain, Morocco, Tunis, Algiers, and Italy. He would return to the U.S. and be sworn in as a judge in June. See June 17, 1894.

Filed with the US Patent Office: patent # 547,861 to James W. Paige and Charles R. North: Automatic Type-Justifying Machine [MTHHR 64n1].