I send you my letter a day ahead this week2—Nothing new with me—rec'd the letter of last Sunday—also the Capital, and the Herald—I had a day or two's visit[—]very acceptable[—]from John Burroughs3 last Saturday & Sunday—he has built a house on the Hudson river about 80 miles from N.Y.—has a little farm there, 9 or 10 acres, very nice—As I write I am feeling comfortable, (but every day & every night seems to bring its bad spell, or several of them.)—Somehow I still feel that I shall come round, & that we shall be together & have some good times again—but I don't know.
Your Walt loc.01647.002.jpgCorrespondent:
Peter Doyle (1843–1907) was
one of Walt Whitman's closest comrades and lovers, and their friendship spanned
nearly thirty years. The two met in 1865 when the twenty-one-year-old Doyle was
a conductor in the horsecar where the forty-five-year-old Whitman was a
passenger. Despite his status as a veteran of the Confederate Army, Doyle's
uneducated, youthful nature appealed to Whitman. Although Whitman's stroke in
1873 and subsequent move from Washington to Camden limited the time the two
could spend together, their relationship rekindled in the mid-1880s after Doyle
moved to Philadelphia and visited nearby Camden frequently. After Whitman's
death, Doyle permitted Richard Maurice Bucke to publish the letters Whitman had
sent him. For more on Doyle and his relationship with Whitman, see Martin G.
Murray, "Doyle, Peter," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia,
ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing,
1998).