January 15 Friday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London Sam wrote a general letter about several matters to H.H. Rogers: He liked the contracts they’d signed. He supposed Harry Rogers (H.H. Rogers, Jr.) had turned sixteen in October (actually his birthday was Dec. 28) and that he’d tried to vote in November. Sam was still upset at Bainbridge Colby, the attorney who had replaced Daniel Whitford on Sam’s grievance against theatrical producer Daniel Frohman; Sam thought Frohman would now escape paying him by virtue of the statute of limitations. He also blamed the Mt. Morris Bank for its “free way of lending money to [Frederick] Hall” when Sam was in Europe, which he felt “made the bulk of the trouble.” On the matter of Rogers’ help to Helen Keller, Sam wrote:

I‘ll keep the Helen Keller subscription private. I don’t want you to be flooded with begging letters. The magazine came, & I am much obliged. Helen’s name will be familiar to the world five centuries from now. In her line she is the most extraordinary product of all the ages.

[Note: Sam would not speak about Rogers’ largesse until his Apr. 3, 1909 speech at the opening of the Virginia in Norfolk, Va.; the magazine was possibly the Jan. 1897 Century, with an article citing Keller’s case. Rogers paid for all of Keller’s expenses at Radcliffe]

Sam added he hadn’t written because he was racing to hit the halfway point on FE, and now had “crossed the ridge” and was “homeward bound.” In a PS he added he wouldn’t talk to Harpers about future books, and was curious to see if they would be able to “make sales” of his books in the trades. He still had no faith in book sales unless by the subscription method, but he thought he’d find out by the sales they’d make on JA after Rogers received their half-yearly statement [MTHHR 260].