I shall return to New York to-morrow, Thursday2—leaving here at ½ past 12, noon, and getting in N. Y. about 8—& intend to go on to Washington on Monday next, 26th. I have been at the Channings's—Jeannie is quite unwell—but bears it like the heroine she is—William O'Connor is there—I am now at Mr. & Mrs. Davis's—Am treated with the greatest hospitality & courtesy every where. Yesterday Mr. Davis took me out riding—went down to Fields' Point, off the bay—& thence to the domain & factories of the Spragues,3 & so to Olneysville &c &c—as interesting a ride & exploration as I ever had in my life—
I have seen Mrs. Whitman4—& like her. We had yesterday here to dinner & spend the evening Nora Perry,5 Wm O'Connor, Dr. Channing, &c—To-day Mrs. Davis had intended to take me out riding, but it is threatening rain, wind east, & skies dark—So it will have to be given up. I like Mr. Davis much. I am very glad I made this jaunt & visit—Love to you, Helen, Emily, & all.
Walt.Correspondent:
Abby H. Price
(1814–1878) was active in various social-reform movements. Price's
husband, Edmund, operated a pickle factory in Brooklyn, and the couple had four
children—Arthur, Helen, Emily, and Henry (who died in 1852, at 2 years of
age). During the 1860s, Price and her family, especially her daughter, Helen,
were friends with Whitman and with Whitman's mother, Louisa Van Velsor Whitman.
In 1860 the Price family began to save Walt's letters. Helen's reminiscences of
Whitman were included in Richard Maurice Bucke's biography, Walt Whitman (Philadelphia: David McKay, 1883), and she printed for
the first time some of Whitman's letters to her mother in Putnam's Monthly 5 (1908): 163–169. In a letter to Ellen M.
O'Connor from November 15, 1863, Whitman declared
with emphasis, "they are all friends, to prize & love
deeply." For more information on Whitman and Abby H. Price, see Sherry Ceniza, "Price, Abby Hills (1814–1878)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998).