The Walt Whitman Archive
Life & Letters
Correspondence
About this Item
Title: Gabriel Harrison to Walt Whitman, 10 March 1885
Date: March 10, 1885
Whitman Archive ID: loc.02244
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.
Editorial note: The annotation, "from Gabe Harrison March '85," is in the hand of Walt Whitman.
Contributors to digital file: Alex Ashland, Stefan Schöberlein, Ian Faith, Kyle Barton, and Nicole Gray
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44 Court St
Brooklyn
March 10 18851
"Walt" Whitman Esq
I have received through your consideration a copy of "The Camden Post" and read with a great amount of interest the leader about your noble self.2 The description makes me feel as if I had been in your room with its big trunk, and chair, and books and things scattered about.—Ye gods! You should see my room. It would bewilder the Devil and the Camden Post to boot to describe Its contents and wild disorder. It would remind you of the story told about the old woman who had let her Parrot and Monkey out of their cages in her absence, and on her return found things in a h—l of a condition.
The next time I go to Philadelphia I will run over to Camden (without invitation) to see you, and once more, by looking you in the face, recover memories of the past that will refurnish the lost beats of my heart time has taken from me.
—Yours with Love and respect,
Gabriel Harrison.
Correspondent:
Gabriel Harrison was a
daguerreotypist and photographer responsible for many of the early images of
Whitman.
Notes:
1. This letter is addressed: Walt Whitman Esq | Camden | New Jersey. It is stamped: If not delivered, return in 10 days to | GABRIEL HARRISON. | 44 COURT ST., BROOKLYN, N.Y. It is postmarked: BROOKLYN | N.Y. | MAR 10 85 | 10 45 AM; NEW YORK | MAR 10 | 1130 AM | 85 | TRANSIT | CAMDEN, N.J. | MAR | 10 | 4 PM | 1885 | REC'D. [back]
2. This is likely a reference to one of two articles that appeared in the Camden Post (on March 7th and 8th) describing Whitman's meeting with the English poet Sir Edmund William Gosse (1849–1928). [back]