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Walt Whitman to Peter Doyle, 21 August [1874]

Your last, & paper, rec'd​ —have had a tolerably good week but nothing to brag of2—middling comfortable to-day—very hot here to-day—tell your RR. chum if he sees me in Phil. he must make himself known to me.

W. W.

Notes

  • 1.

    This postcard bears the address, "Pete Doyle, | M street South, bet 4½ & 6th | Washington, D.C." It is postmarked: "Camden | Aug | 21 | N.J.; Carrier | 22 | Aug | (?)."

    The dating of this postcard as well as the notes and letters to Doyle on July 31, August 7, 14, and 28, 1874, depends in part on Whitman's habit of writing on Fridays. However, as evidenced in Whitman's August 5 letter to Ellen O'Connor and his August 18 letter to John and Ursula Burroughs, both of which were conclusively written in 1874, Whitman's "alternations" were especially marked during the summer of this year, and despite his "natural buoyancy" he was frequently depressed by the inability of his once healthy body to triumph over his ailments.

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  • 2. According to his August 18, 1874 letter to John and Ursula Burroughs, Whitman was enjoying a slight respite from pain. [back]
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