Title: Thomas Jefferson Whitman to Louisa Van Velsor Whitman, 13 February 1873
Date: Februay 13, 1873
Whitman Archive ID: loc.00466
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), 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 13th 1873
Dear Mother,
Mattie is still about the same—for the last two days she has suffered more with her side and back—severe and cutting pain,—than before—I wish you would write to her as soon as you get this. I did not like to show her your last letter on account of fearing she would see and feel too badly that she could not live—she is cheerful and brave—no thing can make her despondent in the shape of personal suffering—and I do not allow her to suffer from any feeling that we feel mournful or despondent
The children are very well indeed and good too—I am well except a bad throat and cold
affectionately Jeff