Walt Whitman to Peter Doyle, 20 March [1874]
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1874 or 5
431 Stevens st. Camden.1
March 20. 4½ P.M.2 Dear boy Pete,
Nothing particular or new in my condition—I have been to the Doctor's to-day—had quite a long interview—no great satisfaction—I still have pretty uncomfortable times—& yet I keep up good heart in the main. I will make out only a short letter this time, I see. Good bye my loving son. I will try to do better next week.
Walt
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Correspondent:
Peter Doyle (1843–1907) was
one of Walt Whitman's closest comrades and lovers, and their friendship spanned
nearly thirty years. The two met in 1865 when the twenty-one-year-old Doyle was
a conductor in the horsecar where the forty-five-year-old Whitman was a
passenger. Despite his status as a veteran of the Confederate Army, Doyle's
uneducated, youthful nature appealed to Whitman. Although Whitman's stroke in
1873 and subsequent move from Washington to Camden limited the time the two
could spend together, their relationship rekindled in the mid-1880s after Doyle
moved to Philadelphia and visited nearby Camden frequently. After Whitman's
death, Doyle permitted Richard Maurice Bucke to publish the letters Whitman had
sent him. For more on Doyle and his relationship with Whitman, see Martin G.
Murray, "Doyle, Peter," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia,
ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing,
1998).
Notes
- 1. This letter is addressed: Peter Doyle | M street south | bet 4½ & 6th | Washington, | D. C. It is postmarked: Camden | Mar | 20 | N.J. [back]
- 2. The year is established by the discussion of Dr. Grier's diagnosis in the letter from Whitman to . O'Connor of March 22, which can be positively assigned to 1874. [back]