Title: Thomas Jefferson Whitman to Walt Whitman, 11 February 1873
Date: February 11, 1873
Whitman Archive ID: loc.00465
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), 156-157. 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 11th /73
Dear Walt
Yours received last night1—We were all sorry to hear that you had had such a bad turn2—and glad enough to hear that you were gaining—
Mattie is about the same as when I last wrote—she is not failing so badly now—last night she rested better—did not seem to have quite so much pain
Still I do not think that she can be said to gain any—only she is not failing so fast and that is a great comfort—The last two days have been damp and cold and rainy so that makes it bad—I do hope dear Walt you will be able to come and see her—if [sic] would be a great comfort to her—
She sends you love and so dear brother do I
Jeff
1. Walt Whitman's letter of about February 9 is not extant; it is also not listed among the poet's lost letters (Edwin Haviland Miller, ed., The Correspondence [New York: New York University Press, 1961-77], 2:363). [back]
2. See Thomas Jefferson Whitman to Walt Whitman, 7 February 1873. [back]