Washington, February 24, 1868.1
Dear friend,
Your letter reached me this afternoon. I am very glad indeed you are coming home2—I already make
calculations not only of resuming our old talks & good times, but of the much
news you will have to tell—also of seeing little Jenny again—dear
child, be sure she is not left out of account—Is Mrs. Channing3 with you then? I send my friendliest remembrances
& good wishes. And to my ever dear friends, Mrs. Price & family—you
know how much I think of them, & estimate them always, with love &
thanks—
It is between two & three o'clock p. m.—We have had a snowy day—as I
look out of my window the ground is white in every direction—William4 has a bad cold, has not been down to work to-day, but has
just come down town, & is this moment sitting by my desk, reading the extra
Evening Star—the fight between Congress & the
President, about Secretary of War,5 rages furiously—The House will doubtless order impeachment—& we are going to have exciting times
generally—but I guess no appeal to arms—
I have heard lately from my dear mother—she is well as usual—Emma Price
can tell you more directly about her, as I hear, (to my great pleasure) that she has
called on mother once or twice lately.6 I am well as usual—have not yet
rec'd a copy of my English re-print7—but hear that
one is on the way—Mr. Swinburne, the poet, has sent me a handsome copy of his
William Blake8 containing certain mention of me, which I will show you when you come.
Hotten,9 the London publisher, has written
me, very handsomely, offering a fee, on every copy—Rossetti, the editor, has
also written me several letters, very satisfactory—I think you will like your
apartments, after you get used to them—it is a fresh, sweet, new house10—that's a good deal—
And now, dear friend, God bless you & little one, & a safe & speedy
return to friends & home.
Walt.
Notes
- 1. This letter's envelope
bears the address, "Mrs. E. M. O'Connor, | at house of Mrs. Price, | 279 East
55th street, | New York City." It is postmarked: "Washington D.C. | (?)." [back]
- 2. According to Walt
Whitman's February 17, 1868 letter to Moncure D.
Conway, Ellen O'Connor had been in Providence, R.I. [back]
- 3. Whitman refers to O'Connor's
sister, Mary Jane Channing, also referenced in his September 11, 1864 letter to O'Connor. Whitman visited the Channings
in Providence later in the year. [back]
- 4. William O'Connor had not
been well for several weeks. Louisa Van Velsor Whitman wrote to Walt Whitman on
February 17, 1868: "i was in hopes mrs Oconor had returned for his sake. if he is not very well it would probably
make him more comfortable." [back]
- 5. On February 22, 1868,
President Johnson ordered the removal of Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War. The
President had suspended Stanton on August 12, 1867. [back]
- 6. According to Louisa Van
Velsor Whitman's letter of February 12(?), 1868,
Emma Price had recently visited her during a snow storm. [back]
- 7. The English edition of Walt Whitman's poems was released on February 5,
1868; see William Michael Rossetti, Rossetti Papers (New
York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1903), 297. [back]
- 8. Swinburne at the conclusion
of William Blake: A Critical Essay (1868), 300–303,
pointed out similarities between Walt Whitman and Blake, and praised "Out of the
Cradle Endlessly Rocking" and "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd," which
he termed "the most sweet and sonorous nocturn ever chanted in the church of the
world." Included in Songs before Sunrise (1871) was his
famous lyric "To Walt Whitman in America." For the story of Swinburne's
veneration of Walt Whitman and his later recantation, see Harold Blodgett, Walt Whitman in England (Cornell: Cornell University
Press, 1934), 103–121. [back]
- 9. In his February 18, 1868 letter to John Camden Hotten,
Walt Whitman accepted Hotten's offer of "one shilling, (or 25 cents gold)" for
each copy of the English edition sold. [back]
- 10. William Douglas and
Ellen O'Connor were living in John and Ursula Burroughs' new home. [back]