January 24 Tuesday – Lilly G. Warner wrote to Sam resigning her position as secretary of the Browning class [MTP].

January 23 Monday – Wales R. McCormick wrote from Quincy, Ill. to Sam, thanking him for the $100 sent. “Your kind and welcome letter was rec’d in due time and I must say when I opened it and read the contents I had to give down and cry like a child.” He asked for a photo [MTP]. Note: Wales was a fellow apprentice for Joseph P. Ament’s Missouri Courier in Hannibal during the 1840s. See Vol. I, June.

January 22 Sunday – Sam responded to Orion Clemens’ letter of Jan. 19-20:

It is an infinite pity that poor old Ma must drag her tired life out in so much needless suffering. Give her our love.

Sam also advised his brother not to write for newspapers, as it was “mere bother” and “does not pay.” He saw a false light ahead for the Paige typesetter, which he thought would,

January 21 Saturday – Sam’s notebook on Webster & Co. Bank balance: Jan 21 — 9,798. Sam also wrote:

Mr. Crane bought four drawing room for 11 a.m. They sold him 4 for 9 a.m. Mr. Halstead redeemed ($1 apiece) C’s 2, but Clara already had hers. She took the 11 am & found her tickets no good. These tickets were sold for a train which was already gone [MTNJ 3: 368].

January 20 Friday – Charles Webster wrote to Sam (Webster & Co. To Grant Jan.19 enclosed).

Dear Uncle Sam: / I got provoked and sent the enclosed letter to Fred Grant. It is a pretty hard letter but it is all true and states our case exactly. I hope this will bring him to his senses; if it does not he may go right along & sue[.] We are ready.

January 19 Thursday – Orion Clemens began a nine-page letter to Sam he finished Jan. 20. Ma had suffered a stroke but was better. He was to have dinner today with Whitford and Hall at the Keokuk House, successor to the Patterson House; other family goings on and his work on history research [MTP]. Note: Whitford and Hall were in Keokuk relative to the R.T. Root lawsuit. See entries on R.T. Root.

January 17 Tuesday – Richard R. Bowker for Publishers’ Weekly wrote asking Sam for an after dinner address on the tariff, Jan. 29 at the Reform Club at Delmonico’s. “Declined,” Sam noted [MTP].

William Dean Howells wrote to Sam or Charles H. Clark (not in MTHL) “I have made a brief note for the Library of Humor.” This scrap of blue paper in Howells’ hand with a brief bio is in the file [MTP].

January 16 Monday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Andrew Chatto again, on the status of the Library of Humor. The illustrations were being made for Chatto & Windus and would be forwarded soon.

January 15 Sunday – In Hartford Sam wrote to Robert M. Howland, his old mining buddy from Nevada days. Sam’s last mention of Howland was to Calvin Higbie on Dec. 16, 1886. He’d run into Howland in New York, and Sam felt him prosperous enough to recommend that Higbie seek financial help from him. Howland may still have been in the east, and interested in speculation.

My Dear Robert —

January 13 Friday – Charles J. Langdon wrote to Sam (enclosed in S.R. Peale Jan 31) about the Clearfield Bonds. Langdon wrote on Peale’s letter that he did not need to answer it; he would sell [MTP].