January 23 Saturday – Sam responded to a request by Seymour Pixley and G.A. Sears, trustees of the First Presbyterian Church of Carson City, to charge a dollar for attendees of the mock “Third House” of the legislature and donate the funds to the church. Sam wrote:
Gentlemen:—Certainly. If the public can find anything in a grave state paper worth paying a dollar for, I am willing they should pay that amount or any other. And although I am not a very dusty christian myself, I take an absorbing interest in religious affairs, and would willingly inflict my annual message upon the church itself if it might derive benefit thereby [MTL 1: 272].