I have only just heard1 that a foreign P O order for
£1-1s (one pound, one shilling) was sent to me from Mrs J Alexander, the Palace,
Derry, Ireland, in June 1878—which P O order has never reached me. See if
there is any acc't of it in your office—if not, send this on to New York, to see if any acc't there—with request that, if necessary they would further inquire of
the London (or Derry) offices—
Notes
- 1. According to his
Commonplace Book, Whitman learned from Thomas W. H. Rolleston that Mrs.
Alexander had not received a copy of Two Rivulets, which
she had ordered in 1878 (Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt
Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.). See the letter
from Rolleston to Whitman of July 29, 1879. The
poet sent the book on August 9, 1879, and so informed Rolleston on the same day,
to whom he wrote again on August 14: "sent p. o. letters." Whitman received a
postal order for $10 from Mrs. Alexander about November 1, 1879, while he
was in St. Louis (St. Louis Diary). [back]