Have been absent from Camden the last five weeks1—been over
the Plains & up in the Rocky Mountains—gave out about two weeks ago &
have been quite sick ever since (principal trouble with my head) but am
recovering—only received yours (of Sept 22)
today—will send the book from Camden soon as I get back—shall stay here
twelve days2
W W
Notes
- 1. Lozynsky claims that Whitman
wrote this note to Bucke on October 17, 1879, but in a letter to his wife, Bucke
wrote that he had received the post card from Whitman on Friday. October 17 fell
on a Friday in 1879, so Whitman must have written and mailed this letter at
least a day earlier. [back]
- 2. The letter from Bucke to
Whitman of 22 September 1879 appears to be lost. An account of Whitman's Western
trip and his physical collapse appears in Walt Whitman, The
Correspondence, ed. Edwin Haviland Miller (New York: New York
University Press, 1961–1977), 3:163–171. The poet remained in St.
Louis at the home of his brother Jeff until January 3, 1880. On January 7, 1880,
he sent ten volumes to Dr. Bucke (Whitman's Commonplace Book, Charles E.
Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of
Congress, Washington, D.C.). [back]