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John M. Rogers to Walt Whitman, 10 April 1871

About This Item

  • Title: John M. Rogers to Walt Whitman, 10 April 1871
  • Date: April 10, 1871
  • Creator(s): John M. Rogers
  • Whitman Archive ID: loc.01868
  • Source: The Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Transcribed from digital images or a microfilm reproduction of the original item. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.
  • Contributors to digital file: Alex Kinnaman Kathryn Kruger Ashley Lawson Elizabeth Lorang John Schwaninger Caterina Bernardini Amanda J. Axley Cristin Noonan Paige Wilkinson Stephanie Blalock
  • Cite this page: Rogers, John M.. "John M. Rogers to Walt Whitman, 10 April 1871." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 09 May 2025. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: loc.01868.xml (TEI)
 loc.01868.001_large.jpg Brooklyn April 10/711 Dear Father

I receive your kind and affecinate​ letter2 on Saturday and was glad to hear from you and that you are well and hearty I am gaing​ very fast I feel beter​ now than I have in some time It is very warm here to day the German People are agoing​ to have a great time here to day other wise things is about the same things is very quite​ here in  loc.01868.002_large.jpg the City I should like very much [damage] to washington but I can not afford it at presant​ it cost me a great deal when I was sick but every thing is paid and I have a little left so I shall have to get someing​ to do very quick or I shall be bankrupt with out any money I have not found any thing yet I started out this morning to look for work I do wish I could find something there to do so we could be togather​ that would be so nice I know I should like  loc.01868.003_large.jpg it You say your​ are very busy now I supose​ this is a busy time of the year with you is it not yesteryday​ was a nice day I went to church & S School so as I do not think of any thing more I will close. so good by​ for this time

I remain your affecinate​ Son John M Rogers

P S write Soon with love I am yours

John4

 loc.01868.004_large.jpg  loc.01868.005_large.jpg John Rogers: April 10 '71  loc.01868.006_large.jpg

Correspondent:
John (Jack) M. Rogers was a Brooklyn driver with whom Whitman had a loving relationship. Whitman first met him in Brooklyn on September 21, 1870. For more on Rogers and his relationship with the poet, see Charley Shively, ed., Calamus Lovers: Walt Whitman's Working-Class Camerados (San Francisco: Gay Sunshine Press, 1987), 122–135.

Notes

  • 1. This letter is addressed in Whitman's hand as follows: Walt Whitman | Attorney Generals' Office. | Washington | D.C. It is postmarked: NEW YORK | APR 11 | 1.30 P.M.; CARRIER | APR | 1[illegible] | [illegible] AM. [back]
  • 2. This letter has not been located. [back]
  • 3. In his letter to Whitman of April 6, 1871, Rogers explained that he was as "well now as can be expected after geting off of a sick bed of four weeks with a fever" and that he had "lost a great deal of fleash" during his illness. [back]
  • 4. Whitman often enclosed a self-addressed envelope in his outgoing letters to friends. The envelope in which Rogers mailed this letter appears to be one such envelope pre-addressed by Whitman. [back]
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