Y'rs of July 8 (?)2 rec'd—with A's3 note on fourth page. All goes safely with me so far thro' the long fearfully hot spell here —It is clouded over a little to day—, —some relief—I have no news to write you ab't my affairs or self. I sit in the big chair by the open window as I write this—"the same subject continued"—Best prayers & love to you all, Mary4, Alys & little R
Walt Whitman loc_jc.00187_large.jpgCorrespondent:
Robert Pearsall Smith
(1827–1898) was a Quaker who became an evangelical minister associated
with the "Holiness movement." He was also a writer and businessman. Whitman
often stayed at his Philadelphia home, where the poet became friendly with the
Smith children—Mary, Logan, and Alys. For more information about Smith,
see Christina Davey, "Smith, Robert Pearsall (1827–1898)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998).