I got the Camden paper this morning containing the notice of your mothers death. I
had heard through Eldridge a few days ago that all was over with her. I suppose it
was not unexpected to you yet for all that the blow must have been a heavy one to
all her children and doubly so to yourself. I should like to hear from you the
particulars of her last days. I wish I might have seen her again. If you are able to
write loc.01122.002.jpg do drop me a
line & tell me about yourself & what your plans are for the summer. I hope
you do not think of returning to W. before fall. I go to N. Y. to-morrow for a few
days. While there a letter addressed to me care of George Bliss Jr. W. S. Atty,
41 Chambers St. will reach me. If you can come North & spend some time with me I
should be delighted. I am going out on L. I. to look at a place for sale, Yaphank
on Carmans River. Do you know the country out there?
My nephew, Chancy B. is with me for a few days but leaves to-morrow; so does Sulic
for Kingston. They both loc.01122.003.jpg
speak affectionately of you & are much concerned on your account.
The lilacs are in their prime here, but the season is getting dry.
With much love. Ever Yours John BurroughsCorrespondent:
The naturalist John Burroughs
(1837–1921) met Whitman on the streets of Washington, D.C., in 1864. After
returning to Brooklyn in 1864, Whitman commenced what was to become a decades-long
correspondence with Burroughs. Burroughs was magnetically drawn to Whitman.
However, the correspondence between the two men is, as Burroughs acknowledged,
curiously "matter-of-fact." Burroughs would write several books involving or
devoted to Whitman's work: Notes on Walt Whitman, as Poet and
Person (1867), Birds and Poets (1877), Whitman, A Study (1896), and Accepting
the Universe (1924). For more on Whitman's relationship with Burroughs,
see Carmine Sarracino, "Burroughs, John [1837–1921] and Ursula [1836–1917]," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and
Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998).