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Walt Whitman to Alfred Pratt, 28 October 1867

About This Item

  • Title: Walt Whitman to Alfred Pratt, 28 October 1867
  • Date: October 28, 1867
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
  • Whitman Archive ID: loc.01561
  • Source: The Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839-1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. The transcription presented here is derived from Walt Whitman, The Correspondence, ed. Edwin Haviland Miller (New York: New York University Press, 1961–1977), 345–346. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.
  • Cite this page: Whitman, Walt. "Walt Whitman to Alfred Pratt, 28 October 1867." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 04 December 2024. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: loc.01561.xml (TEI)
 loc.01561.001.jpg Attorney General's Office, Washington. Oct. 28, 1867. Alfred Pratt,1  
  Dear boy & Comrade,

I have been home to Brooklyn, N. Y. on a visit to my mother, but I am now back here again, and am well as usual, and working in the same place. Your letter of August 15, and the letter of Oct. 2, have both reached me, & I was very glad to hear from you & your folks, & to get such friendly letters. Dear boy, I should like much to pay you a visit, & to be with you  loc.01561.002.jpg for a while, & to become acquainted with your father & mother—it would be a real comfort to me, & I am determined to come one of these days—I often think about it, & about you too, dear friend, & one of these days we will see each other again.

There is nothing very new in my affairs. I have had quite a pleas-ant summer, & now the fall is here—the past three weeks has been splendid weather here, both days & nights—but to-day there is a heavy rain—looks as if it had set in for a long storm—

 loc.01561.003.jpg

—I am living at a boarding house, the same place where you come to see me, but new landlord & landlady2—472 M st.—it is quite pleasant—mostly young people, full of life & gayety—then I go to my work at 9, & leave at 3—so you see it is easy enough—In about three weeks more it will be lively times here in Washington, as Congress is to meet then, & there will be some important questions brought up—but I take all these things very coolly—&, since the war is over, dont​ allow myself to get excited—

 loc.01561.004.jpg

You must write to me often as you can. I shall probably remain here this winter. I wish you to give my love to your father & mother. They do not seem at all like strangers to me.

And now Alfred I must bid you farewell for the present, my loving boy & comrade.—When you write, write to me about the farm, & the farm-life, crops, horses, &c. for I like to hear about such things too.

Walt Whitman.

Notes

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