Title: Thomas Jefferson Whitman to Louisa Van Velsor Whitman, 9 February 1873
Date: February 9, 1873
Whitman Archive ID: loc.00463
Source: Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. The transcription presented here is derived from Thomas Jefferson Whitman, Dear Brother Walt: The Letters of Thomas Jefferson Whitman, ed. Dennis Berthold and Kenneth M. Price (Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1984), 155-156. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.
Contributors to digital file: Elizabeth Lorang, Kathryn Kruger, and April Lambert
St. Louis,
Feb 9th 1873
Dear Mother
Mattie is, I think a little improved since I last wrote you—she passed an easier night last night—
Friday she went down to a photograph gallery in a carriage and we took her in a chair up the stairs—I had a lady sent there to fix her hair and dress her and altogether I think we obtained a most excellent picture of her—though I hav'nt seen the pictures yet
I do not think she suffers so much—though yesterday she had a bad day all day—on account of the excitement
Love to all—will write again to morrow
affectionately Jeff