George A. White to Walt Whitman, 28 November 1873

Correspondent:
Whitman stayed with Dr. George A. White, a chiropodist, and his wife Isabella A. White from March 1, 1871, until the poet left Washington following his stroke in 1873. Whitman had paid $236 in rent through June 10, 1873. On November 28, 1873, Dr. White acknowledged for his wife receipt of $25 "on account . . . for rent of room etc from May 1st/73." Whitman gave up one room at the Whites' on June 10, 1873: "Kept the other at $2.50 a month" (Notebooks and Unpublished Prose Manuscripts, ed. Edward F. Grier [New York: New York University Press, 1984], 2:942). According to a letter dated July 29, 1874, Isabella White had written, evidently early in July, about the rent due for his room; Whitman's reply is not extant. On the 29th, White offered to purchase Whitman's bedstead and certain other effects. Whitman had not settled his account when White wrote again on October 6, 1874, and offered him a credit of $10 for his furnishings against a balance of $38. See also Walt Whitman's July 10, 1874, letter to Peter Doyle, in which Whitman left instructions for the delivery of his boxes from the Whites.