September 24 Friday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Mathew B. Cox, Sam’s friend and cabin mate during the 1868 voyage from New York to San Francisco. Cox was superintendent of the Pacific Mail Steamship Co.’s docks in San Francisco. The letter was a reminiscence of some of the fun on that trip [MTL 3: 357].
September 23 Thursday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to William P. Carpenter (1853-1936), responding to a request to lecture and forwarding his name to Redpath for a date [MTL 3: 356].
September 21 Tuesday – Sam wrote a short note from Buffalo to Henry M. Crane confirming his lecture in Rondout, New York on Jan. 12, 1870 [MTL 3: 353].
September 18 Saturday – “The ‘Wild Man’,” attributed to Sam, ran in the Express [McCullough 53].
September 17 Friday – Sam wrote from Elmira to James Ausburn Towner (1836-1909) (“Ishmael”), somewhat piqued at Towner’s column in the Sept. 11 Elmira Saturday Evening Revue [MTL 3: 352].
September 13 Monday – “The Gates Ajar,” attributed to Sam, was printed in the Express [McCullough 51].
Sam left Elmira for Buffalo.
September 11 Saturday – “The Last Words of Great Men,” and “Personal,” both signed by Sam ran in the Express. In the former piece, Sam claimed that the last words of Joan of Arc were “Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, the Boys are Marching.” Other pieces ran in the Express: “Mr. And Mrs.
September 10 Friday – Sam’s letter to Livy of Sept. 8 shows he proposed to start for Elmira “Friday night at 11—& start back at same hour on Monday night.”
September 9 Thursday – “Butler on the Byron Scandal,” attributed to Sam, ran in the Express [McCullough 38].
Sam finished the letter to Livy, begun the previous day. He wrote about Feb. 4 being the wedding date (it turned out to be Feb. 2,) his writing to Redpath of that fact, and about Charles Langdon, who had left for a trip around the world [MTL 3: 348-9].
September 8 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Buffalo to Henry M. Crane about lecturing:
“No, your ‘persistence’ don’t annoy me a bit—it is complimentary to me. I am only going to lecture till the middle of January, anyhow.”
Sam noted that his wedding had been postponed until the first week in February, due to lecture dates he was unable to cancel. Sam’s intention at this point was to “get out of the lecture-field forever” [MTL 3: 346-7].