Friday afternoon, April 4.
Dearest mother1,
I rec'd your letter to-day, and I also rec'd your letter of Tuesday, (as I wrote Wednesday)—I will write a few lines to
Lillie,2 (mostly for Aunt Sally Mead)3—
I got a good letter from Jeff4 yesterday5—Mother, Jeff is
evidently feeling composed & well—of course he feels Matty's6 death very seriously,
but I think he has recovered from the shock, and attends to his business as well as
ever—They seem to be well situated at the Buckley's—Jeff writes quite a good
deal about you—he writes about Mat's death—about her wishing to see us before
she died—
I am writing this seated at my desk in the office—I come over to the office about
12—I do not feel very well, most of the time, but have spells when I feel much better,
generally evening—I think the sun affects me—
Mother, we—I and the doctor—have talked much of the electric battery
treatment7—but as long as the head is affected, (the
brain & nerves) they say it must not be applied, for it will do more harm than good,
might cause convulsions—My doctor, Dr. Drinkard, says he will use it as soon as he
feels it will do good—but the time has not come yet—I believe I told you I am
taking iron, strychnia & quinine to give strength—
I wrote to Jeff yesterday—I send you Harper's Weekly8, to-day, mother, it is quite interesting—I still hold my mind about getting a house
here & shall certainly do so9—At
present my great hope is to get well, to get so I can walk, & have some use of my
limbs—I can write, pretty well, and my mind is clear, but I cannot walk a block, &
have no power to do any thing, in lifting or moving any thing in my room, or at my
desk—Still I keep good spirits, better far than I would have supposed myself, knowing
that I shall get all right in time—I know how much worse things
might be in my situation than they are, & feel thankful enough that they are as well as
they are—Mother, I was glad to get your letter of Tuesday, April 1. I have been
reading the wreck of the Atlantic April 1st10—I think it the saddest thing I ever read—
Well, mama dear, I will close—I hope you will have a pleasant Sunday—Love to
you, dear mother, & to all—it is now about ½ past 1 Friday afternoon—I
wrote to you Wednesday 2d April, which I suppose you got.
Walt.
Notes
- 1. Louisa Van Velsor Whitman (1795–1873) married
Walter Whitman, Sr., in 1816; together they had nine children, of whom Walt was
the second. The close relationship between Louisa and her son Walt contributed
to his liberal view of gender representation and his sense of comradeship. For
more information on Louisa Van Velsor Whitman, see Sherry Ceniza, "Whitman, Louisa Van Velsor (1795–1873)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 2. Lillie Townsend was, like Priscilla
Townsend (see Whitman's April 21, 1873 letter to
his mother), presumably a cousin of Louisa Van Velsor Whitman. [back]
- 3. Sarah Mead was Walt Whitman's maternal
grandmother's sister. Mead was at the time over ninety years old. [back]
- 4. Thomas Jefferson Whitman (1833–1890), known as
"Jeff," was Walt Whitman's favorite brother. As a civil engineer, Jeff
eventually became Superintendent of Water Works in St. Louis and a nationally
recognized name. Whitman probably had his brother in mind when he praised the
marvels of civil engineering in poems like "Passage to India." Though their
correspondence slowed in the middle of their lives, the brothers were brought
together again by the deaths of Jeff's wife Martha (known as Mattie) in 1873 and
his daughter Manahatta in 1886. Jeff's death in 1890 caused Walt to reminisce in
his obituary, "how we loved each other—how many jovial good times we had!"
For more on Thomas Jefferson Whitman, see Randall Waldron, "Whitman, Thomas Jefferson (1833–1890)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 5. Here Walt Whitman summarized Jeff's letter
of March 30, 1873. [back]
- 6. Martha Mitchell Whitman (d. 1873) known as "Mattie,"
was the wife of Thomas Jefferson "Jeff" Whitman, Walt Whitman's brother. She and
Jeff had two daughters, Manahatta and Jessie Louisa. In 1868, Mattie and her
daughters moved to St. Louis to join Jeff, who had moved there in 1867 to assume
the position of Superintendent of Water Works. Mattie experienced a throat
ailment that would lead to her death in 1873. For more information on Mattie, see Randall Waldron, "Whitman, Martha ("Mattie") Mitchell (1836–1873)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 7. At the request of Ellen O'Connor, his
sister-in-law, Dr. Channing sent to Walt Whitman on March 19, 1873, a copy of his 1849 treatise on medical electricity,
but warned against premature use of electric shock: "In a word electricity must
not be used while there is existing lesion of the brain
or nerve centres. . . . premature use of electricity . . . may induce
congestion, apoplexy or convulsions." [back]
- 8. Harper's Monthly
Magazine (sometimes Harper's New Monthly
Magazine or simply Harper's) was established in
1850 by Henry J. Raymond and Fletcher Harper. The magazine published several of
Walt Whitman's poems, including "Song of the Redwood-Tree" and "Prayer of Columbus." In 1857, Fletcher Harper founded Harper's Weekly (subtitled "A Journal of Civilization"),
which gained its fame for its coverage of the Civil War and its publication of
cartoonist Thomas Nast's (1840–1902) work. For Whitman's relationship with
these two publications, see "Harper's Monthly Magazine" and "Harper's Weekly Magazine." [back]
- 9. Walt Whitman also referred to the
possibility of purchasing a house in Washington; see his March 1, 1873 letter to Mannahatta Whitman and his February 23 and March
28, 1873 letters to Louisa Van Velsor Whitman. [back]
- 10. The first reports of the sinking of the
steamship Atlantic spoke of the loss of 700 lives. On
April 3, 1873, the New York Times noted that the number
was 546. Later a board of inquiry attributed the disaster to dereliction of duty
on the part of the captain. [back]