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Walt Whitman to Susan Stafford, [December(?) 1878]

About This Item

  • Title: Walt Whitman to Susan Stafford, [December(?) 1878]
  • Date: December(?) 1878
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
  • Whitman Archive ID: loc.04037
  • Source: The 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, 1964), 145. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.
  • Contributors to digital file: Alicia Bones Grace Thomas Eder Jaramillo Kevin McMullen Nicole Gray
  • Cite this page: Whitman, Walt. "Walt Whitman to Susan Stafford, [December(?) 1878]." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 04 December 2024. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: loc.04037.xml (TEI)
Dear friend1

I enclose $5 for the past (over) a weeks board. (God bless you for your many sisterly kindnesses to me, which no money can ever repay. My love to Ed and Debby and the whole family.)

As I am going up & may not be down again soon, I wish Debby to take charge of my big pillow, as it was made by & given me by my mother, & she slept on it & I shall want it again. I may want the stove, to use, this winter, but don't know. The bedstead I give to Debbie if she will accept it—it an't worth much any how.

Notes

  • 1. This draft letter was probably sent shortly after Whitman's visit from November 29 to December 6, 1878. He was not with the Staffords again until July 2, 1879 (Whitman's Commonplace Book, Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.). When he stayed with Susan Stafford, he ordinarily paid her $5 a week for his board. [back]
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