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New York.1
June 17th, 68
My dear Walt,
Your letter of inquiry and of the good old feeling has this moment reached
me. I hasten to reply, and with hearty thanks for your generous favor, report
for the second time that the Books,2 letter, and
paper3 reached me promptly.
I replied immediately4 thanking you as I do now for your
kindness—Be assured of the high estimate I place upon your gift, and
the glowing thoughts to which you have given utterance.
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"Leaves Of Grass" forever! Your heart can never cease to beat.
Immortal friend and benefactor, God bless you. My heart warms towards Mr.
Burroughs5 for his friendly words. I know I should love
to meet him.
Don't fail my dear friend to call on me when you come to New York.
Mrs Hine6 thanks you for your remembrance, also
the little girl Lucy.7 I have now two sons, one four, and the youngest not
quite a year old. Mrs H has grown stout like yourself, and now weighs two
hundred pounds. She and the children
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are in the country. "When Lilacs Last In The Door Yard Bloomed,"8
pleases me so much that I read it over every day or two with increased interest.
My dear old friend I love you—I shall be proud to hear from you at all
times, and quick to reply—
Charles Hine
P.S.
My picture, of which I sent you a notice will rest in somnolence during the summer.
Charles—
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Charles Hine 1868
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Correspondent:
Charles Hine (1827–1871) was
a portrait and figure painter best known for his nude figure entitled Sleep. Hine did an early oil painting of Walt Whitman,
which served as the basis for Stephen Alonzo Schoff's engraving of the poet for
Leaves of Grass (1860).
Notes
- 1. This letter is addressed:
Walt Whitman, | Washington, | D.C—. It is postmarked: New York | JUN | 18;
CARRIER | JUN | 19 | 2 P.M. [back]
- 2. Whitman included the
following in his letter to Hine of May 9, 1868:
the latest edition of Leaves of Grass (1867), Notes on Walt Whitman, As Poet and Person (1867), and an
article written by Richard J. Hinton from the Rochester Evening
Express. [back]
- 3. Whitman had recently mentioned Hinton's article
in his April 28–May 4, 1868,
letter to his mother Louisa Van Velsor Whitman. [back]
- 4. This letter has not been
located. [back]
- 5. The naturalist John Burroughs
(1837–1921) met Whitman on the streets of Washington, D.C., in 1864. After
returning to Brooklyn in 1864, Whitman commenced what was to become a decades-long
correspondence with Burroughs. Burroughs was magnetically drawn to Whitman.
However, the correspondence between the two men is, as Burroughs acknowledged,
curiously "matter-of-fact." Burroughs would write several books involving or
devoted to Whitman's work: Notes on Walt Whitman, as Poet and
Person (1867), Birds and Poets (1877), Whitman, A Study (1896), and Accepting
the Universe (1924). For more on Whitman's relationship with Burroughs,
see Carmine Sarracino, "Burroughs, John [1837–1921] and Ursula [1836–1917]," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and
Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 6. Caroline P. Woodman Hine (1833–1903) was the wife
of Charles Hine (1827–1871). [back]
- 7. Lucy is
one of the daughters of the artist Charles (1827–1871) and
his wife Caroline P. Woodman Hine (1833–1903). [back]
- 8. Whitman's poem, "When
Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd." For more on the poem, see R. W.
French, "'When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd' [1865]," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D.
Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]