Skip to main content

Walt Whitman to Anne Gilchrist, 11 June [1877]

Dearest friend

I send you a hurried line as Herbert is going up for a few days—I want to come up & be with you all awhile—I am getting much nearer to Herby, & he is already a great comfort to me—I keep well as lately, & enjoy the creek &c as much as ever—but perhaps a little variation would be acceptable & salutary to me—I shall come up soon—let us all be together awhile if agreeable, (I am not willing to have Herby absent when I am there)—

Have you been over to Camden since? I was so much obliged to you for your good letter about my sister & all, & your kind invitation to my neices​ which I have sent on to them. This morning is cloudy & a little chilly—Love to you, dearest friend, & to Bee & Giddy2—We will all see each other soon—

W. W.

Notes

  • 1. June 11 was on Monday in 1877. According to an entry dated May 15, Herbert Harlakenden Gilchrist visited Walt Whitman at Kirkwood (The Commonplace Book, Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; Anne Gilchrist: Her Life and Writings, ed. Herbert Harlakenden Gilchrist [London: T.F. Unwin, 1887]). [back]
  • 2. Anne Gilchrist's daughters were Beatrice (1854–1881) and Grace (1859–1947). Whitman was fond of both girls, especially of Beatrice, whom he termed "the noble one." See the letter from Whitman to Harry Stafford of June 18–19, 1877. [back]
Back to top