William D O'Connor to Walt Whitman, 14 March 1883
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see notes March 23 1889
Providence, R.I. 98 Congdon Street, March 14, 1883. Dear Walt:
After I telegraphed you today, I got the proofs, mailed from Washington, and immediately sat down
and have spent most of the day proof reading. I return the sheets with this
evening's mail, and as I shall not probably see another proof, I hope you will see
that 
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corrections are carefully made, since I loathe typographical errors.
I wish you would see that the printer puts all names of books into italics, as my copy indicated. I don't like to see a page so dotted with guillemets or quotation marks. Besides, this was the plan followed in the pamphlet—"The Good Gray Poet."
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One thing I must beg, that you will restore to its place in the text so much of
Emerson's letter as my MS gave. I had a tussle with Dr. Bucke about this, and he gave in,
and allowed that there was no reason why the letter should not appear twice, or even
three times in different parts of the book, for different reasons. It is absolutely
necessary to my point on Cook that the letter should 
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in the context, and I beg you to have this done.
Be sure and let me have (sent here, until further notice) the proofs of the Good Gray Poet. There is a bit of it appended to these slips,
and I notice that my first footnote has been changed, not entirely to my taste. What
I wrote explained the 
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somewhat too enigmatic "sad pleasure" of the text, and the
revised version ignores the point. I thought what I wrote perfectly deserved,
besides, for Lowell
is a perfect cad, and deserves the kick I gave him in my footnote. His interference
with that letter was an extraordinary piece of 
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he deserved a sharper thrust than I gave him.
I am not sure, thinking it over, but that I may, when I see the proofs, take out three or four lines on the last page of the G.G.P .
I write in a hurry, so as to catch 
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disappoint you. Jeannie is very ill, confined to her bed, perhaps never to be
well again. I don't know, the prospect is distracting and gloomy.
I have been quite ill ever since I came here, and have read these proofs in a state
of feebleness and confusion. It is 
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from the severe work of the winter at Washington.
P.S. If I can see a revise, I should like it.