Camden1
March 29
Yours just rec'd —The printers are very slow—but will be coming along in a day
[or] two—have a sudden rush—the American reprint "Encyclopædia
Brittanica"—I send you by express a little package of books—the three
Vols. of my own writing you keep—& give away, or do what you are a mind to
with2—The Elze? book3—(have you run foul of it before? I guess not)—I send to while away
unoccupied hours—keep it as long as you stay in Providence—then return
it to me here.
W W
Your 27th M[arch] letter has pleased me well—as all your letters
do—Wm, let me know how the Heywood affair gets on, or turns out, as you
hear from it—We (I and McKay) have been somewhat at a loss what to do in
it—whether to send on some money ($20 or so)—or whether to
remain entirely aloof & silent (& send no money)—I finally
concluded on the latter—& I am quite clear that is the right course
for me—mainly because it satisfies me best, upon
the whole4—What you say about
Mrs Spofford's say lubricates my soul like precious ointment5—
Notes
- 1. This letter is endorsed:
"Answ'd April 1/83." It is addressed: Wm D O'Connor | Care Dr W F Channing | 98
Congdon Street | Providence | Rhode Island. It is postmarked: Philadelphia | Mar
| 29 | 5(?) PM | Pa.; Providence | Mar | 30 | 6 AM | R.I. [back]
- 2. In his reply on April 1, O'Connor informed Whitman that he had
given copies of Leaves of Grass and Specimen Days to the Channings (Horace Traubel, With
Walt Whitman in Camden, Tuesday, September 4th, 1888, 258). [back]
- 3. O'Connor was thoroughly
acquainted with the writings of Karl Elze (1821–1889), whom he termed "a
perfect Bismarck philistine" (Traubel, Tuesday, September 4th, 1888, 259). Probably Whitman sent Elze's Essays on Shakespeare (1874). The question mark after
Elze in the text is Whitman's. [back]
- 4. See the letter from
Whitman to O'Connor of October 29, 1882. Though
O'Connor considered Heywood "a stupendous jackass," as he wrote in his letter of
March 27, he was anxious to have him acquitted
(Traubel, Friday, January 18, 1889, 566). On April
1 he approved of Whitman's course of inaction (Traubel, Tuesday, September 4th, 1888, 260). [back]
- 5. On March 27 O'Connor reported that Harriet Prescott
Spofford (1835–1921), novelist and poet, considered Whitman "the only poet
that ever lived who has done justice to woman" (Traubel, Friday, January 18, 1889, 564). [back]