November 16 Wednesday – At the Grosvenor Hotel in N.Y.C. Sam wrote a letter of recommendation for Madame Hartwig:

To whom it may concern:

I desire to recommend Madame Hartwig to my friends & the public as a teacher of singing & as a concert-vocalist. She has lived for fifteen years at the court of Roumania, & she brought with her to America an autograph letter in which her Majesty the Queen of Roumania cordially certified her to me as being an accomplished & gifted singer & teacher of singing, & expressed a warm hope that her professional venture among us would meet with success. Through absence in Europe I have had no opportunity to test the validity of the Queen’s judgment in the matter, but that judgment is the utterance of an entirely competent authority—the best that occupies a throne, & as good as any that sits elsewhere, as the musical world well knows—& therefore I back it without hesitation, and endorse it with confidence.

I will explain that the reason her Majesty tried to do her friend a friendly office through me instead of some one else was, not that I was particularly the right or best person for the office, but because I was not a stranger. It is true that I am a stranger to some of the monarchs—mainly through their neglect of their opportunities—but such is not the case in the present instance. The latter fact is a high compliment to me, & perhaps I ought to conceal it. Some people would. (S.L. Clemens) Mark Twain [MTP].

Polk Miller (1844-1914), merchant and entertainer, left a note to Sam. “Simply called to pay my respects. If any trouble to see me, please excuse yourself. With best wishes” [MTP].