May – Sam spent weeks in New York, catching up on his letters to the Alta California. He gathered information from a variety of sources on subjects of interest to Alta readers. He compiled information on the popularity of California wines in the East, on New York weather, on the better hotels. He visited the Blind Asylum, the Midnight Mission, which tried to help prostitutes, the Five Points slums, and the Bible House. At the Bible House Sam introduced himself to Herman Dyer, doctor of divinity, and told him about the good work and influence that Rev. Franklin S. Rising had gained in Nevada for the miners and settlers there [Dyer 315]. Rising had been with Sam on the Smyrniote, returning from Hawaii in 1866, and is mentioned in Sam’s diary (see July 29, 1866). Rising died in Dec. 1868 in a collision of the steamers America and United States on the Ohio River [MTL 1: 354n3].

See May 20 for Sam’s letter to the Alta California about his visit to the Bible House. Sam saw the famous horse “Dexter” race. He spent an evening at Harry Hill’s Club House with bawdy skits and music and a good bar. He toured museums and art galleries. One painting by an “old master” Sam said he could not admire, even though he knew he was supposed to. “I am glad the old masters are all dead, and I only wish they had died sooner.” Sam noted that the body of Artemus Ward had arrived from London, on the way to burial in Waterford, Maine. Sam went to see the San Francisco Minstrels several times.