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To R. Pearsall Smith 1884
Camden1
March 4 PM2
Thanks for your dear kind note of last week—I have been quite ill—the
doctor says mainly a lesion or trouble, (physical) brain centre, other botherations
too—but as I write this towards evening I have the very definite feeling of
the worst having passed, & that I shall be better in a day or two—I feel
so today already—& soon about as usual—
No my friend there is nothing you can specially do for me (I should frankly tell
you, if there was.) Mary's3 and Logan's4
visit Sunday through the storm was a real comfort to me—(more a help than
they knew.) I wish dear Alys5 would take
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This side
the earliest convenient opportunity to give my excuses & love to Mr6
and Mrs: Williams,7 and Churchy8—I
have had this trouble on me now for over three weeks—
It is very lonesome here—If I had not been born with a happy-tending
natural disposition (I inherit it from my mother9)
the last few weeks—yes the
last ten years—would have been unmitigated darkness & heaviness to me—As
it is, the ennuyeed hours have been the rare exceptions—
Then about the shows of life & my experience in them I am deeper & deeper
impressed the older I grow that
the real something has yet to be known—
It is well I am physically ballasted so strong, with weightiest animality & appetites,
or I should go off in a balloon—Well luckily for you my friend I have come to the
end of the paper—
W W
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Correspondent:
Robert Pearsall Smith
(1827–1898) was a Quaker who became an evangelical minister associated
with the "Holiness movement." He was also a writer and businessman. Whitman
often stayed at his Philadelphia home, where the poet became friendly with the
Smith children—Mary, Logan, and Alys. For more information about Smith,
see Christina Davey, "Smith, Robert Pearsall (1827–1898)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998).
Notes
- 1. This letter is addressed:
R Pearsall Smith | 410 Race Street | Philadelphia | Lock Box | P. It is
postmarked: Camden
| Mar | [illegible] | N.J.. [back]
- 2. Whitman noted this letter
in his Commonplace Book (Whitman's Commonplace Book, Charles E. Feinberg
Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress,
Washington, D.C.). The poet had fallen ill on February 17 and was not able to
leave the house until March 4. See the letter from Whitman to Robert Pearsall
Smith of March 10, 1884. [back]
- 3. Mary Whitall Smith Costelloe
(1864–1945) was a political activist, art historian, and critic, whom
Whitman once called his "staunchest living woman friend." For more information
about Costelloe, see Christina Davey, "Costelloe, Mary Whitall Smith (1864–1945)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D.
Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 4. Logan Pearsall Smith
(1865–1946) was an essayist and literary critic. He was the son of Robert
Pearsall Smith. For more information on Logan, see Christina Davey "Smith, Logan Pearsall (1865–1946)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 5. Alyssa ("Alys") Whitall Pearsall
Smith (1867–1951) was born in Philadelphia and became a Quaker relief
organizer. She attended Bryn Mawr College and was a graduate of the class of
1890. She and her family lived in Britain for two years during her childhood and
again beginning in 1888. She married the philosopher Bertrand Russell in 1894;
the couple later separated, and they divorced in 1921. Smith also served as the
chair of a society committee that set up the "Mothers and Babies Welcome" (the
St Pancras School for Mothers) in London in 1907; this health center, dedicated
to reducing the infant mortality rate, provided a range of medical and
educational services for women. Smith was the daughter of Robert Pearsall and
Hannah Whitall Smith, and she was the sister of Mary Whitall Smith
(1864–1945), the political activist, art historian, and critic, whom
Whitman once called his "staunchest living woman friend." [back]
- 6. Francis ("Frank") Howard Williams
(1844–1922) was a Philadelphia poet and playwright who wrote several
essays on Whitman and two sonnets to the poet (included in his The Flute Player and Other Poems [1896]). He often welcomed Whitman
into his home in the 1880s and is frequently mentioned in Horace Traubel's With Walt Whitman in Camden, where Whitman describes the
Williams family home as "a sort of asylum (like old churches, temples) when so
many homes were closed against me" (See Traubel, With Walt
Whitman in Camden, Tuesday, September 18, 1888). [back]
- 7. Martha B. Houston Williams was the
wife of playwright and poet Francis Howard Williams, whose home in Germantown,
Philadelphia, Whitman often visited. [back]
- 8. F. Churchill Williams is
mentioned in Whitman's Commonplace Book (Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the
Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.);
he was a brother of Francis H. Williams. See the letter from Whitman to John H.
Johnston of December 29, 1883). [back]
- 9. 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]