The watch (a beauty)—the knives & forks & the china ware all reach'd me safely this afternoon2—thanks, thanks & best love—Of your letter every point & behest shall be obeyed—Fearfully hot day again—but I am standing it so far—am just going out for my evening sail on the Delaware. God bless you & yours.
Walt Whitman loc_vm.01688_large.jpg loc.02565.001_large.jpg loc.02565.002_large.jpgCorrespondent:
John H. Johnston (1837–1919) was a New York
jeweler and close friend of Whitman. Johnston was also a friend of Joaquin
Miller (Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Tuesday, August 14, 1888). Whitman visited the Johnstons for the
first time early in 1877. In 1888 he observed to Horace Traubel: "I count
[Johnston] as in our inner circle, among the chosen few" (Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Wednesday, October 3, 1888). See also Johnston's letter about
Whitman, printed in Charles N. Elliot, Walt Whitman as Man,
Poet and Friend (Boston: Richard G. Badger, 1915), 149–174. For
more on Johnston, see Susan L. Roberson, "Johnston, John H. (1837–1919) and Alma Calder," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and
Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998).