Kirkwood
December 291
Dear friend,
we have looked for you down with us so long & you have not come that we have
given up all hope of ever seeing you again with us so I write to say the kit of fish
and all the nice presents that you have so kindly sent us have all come safe and we
all thank you more than words can tell.2 I should have written for you last weeks to
spend Christmas with us but I had a very severe attact of the heart & was not able to do so [no handwritten text supplied here] I am better now will you please come this week [no handwritten text supplied here]
we shall look for you [no handwritten text supplied here] do not disappoint us. We
have waited so long please write what day you will come & we will meet you at
the Station,
ever your friend,
S.M. Stafford
Notes
- 1. This letter was marked
Sunday, which would fit 1878; however, Whitman sent a kit of fish November 24,
1877, so the date may be 1877. [back]
- 2. Susan M. Lamb Stafford
(1833–1910) was the mother of Harry Stafford (1858–1918), who, in
1876, became a close friend of Whitman while working at the printing office of
the Camden New Republic. Whitman regularly visited the
Staffords at their family farm near Kirkwood, New Jersey. Whitman enjoyed the
atmosphere and tranquility that the farm provided and would often stay for weeks
at a time (see David G. Miller, "Stafford, George and Susan M.," Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings [New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998], 685). [back]