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Walt Whitman to Louisa Van Velsor Whitman, 16 November 1866

About This Item

  • Title: Walt Whitman to Louisa Van Velsor Whitman, 16 November 1866
  • Date: November 16, 1866
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
  • Whitman Archive ID: prc.00006
  • Source: Private collection. The transcription presented here is derived from Walt Whitman, The Correspondence, ed. Edwin Haviland Miller (New York: New York University Press, 1961–1977), 294-295. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.
  • Contributors to digital file: Elizabeth Lorang Brett Barney Vanessa Steinroetter Alyssa Olson
  • Cite this page: Whitman, Walt. "Walt Whitman to Louisa Van Velsor Whitman, 16 November 1866." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 04 December 2024. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: prc.00006.xml (TEI)
ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE, Washington, Nov. 16, 1866. Friday afternoon. Dearest Mother,

I only write again this week (I wrote last Tuesday) to inform you that the Attorney General has promoted me. I have now a real good berth, what they call a third class clerk with the pay of $1600 a year.1 I shall have about $127 a month (they take a little off, every time they pay, on acc't of gov't tax.) Besides I have now a regular appointment, instead of being a temporary clerk, as before. I was appointed last Wednesday, my new grade & pay commence on Nov. 1st—I haven't got a letter from home for ten or twelve days. The Attorney General has gone to New York—he is badly afflicted with sore eyes, & has gone there to see the best oculists—

My cold, or whatever it is, is better to-day—I hope you are all well—Good bye, dear mother. Write soon.

Walt.

Mother, I send some envelopes—You must have paper—you know I left you a great lot, when I was home. I hope you are not sick, dear mother.

Notes

  • 1. Whitman's copy of Stanbery's "Order Book" is in the Charles E. Feinberg Collection. [back]
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