Kirkwood1
noon July 2.
A beautiful day, & we are enjoying it—H[erbert] is painting2—I am well, for me—We expect to come up Friday—(possibly I not till Saturday)—
WW
Notes
- 1. This letter bears the
address: Mrs Gilchrist | 1929 north 22d Street | Philadelphia. It is postmarked:
Kirkw[ood] | Jul | 3(?) | (?). [back]
- 2. Herbert Gilchrist spent
part of July painting at Kirkwood (The Commonplace Book,
Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919,
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.). Also, see the letter from Whitman to
Herbert Gilchrist of July 22, 1877. In a news
article in the Camden Daily Post on August 2, which
quoted from the Washington Star, Whitman, who was
obviously the anonymous author, referred to Herbert's portrait of himself: "The
painting, which is now well advanced, and promises to be an excellent likeness,
represents Mr. Whitman sitting in an easy chair under a favorite tree." Whitman
expected to return to Camden on Friday, July 6, as noted in his letter to John
Burroughs of June 22, 1877. [back]