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Camden
Tuesday PM
Dec: 18 '88
Thanks for the 13th note—write oftener—I have been thro another very bad
spell—ten days, two of them quite serious—but am somewhat
better—am sitting up anyhow writing this, but my brain is flabby—my grip
weak—The doctor speaks of a pronounc'd gastric trouble, from long
indigestion—No I have no recollection of any "Solitude"1—have no doubt it is a total invention (not to use
the word fraud wh' is perfectly proper)—my relations
were never at all intimate with Lowell—there are a good many such—it
might be worth while to stamp them peremptorily in future—I have included all
my stuff in "Complete Vol," a big book2 authenticated by me now, rather cheaply bound
& I w'd like to send a package of four or five copies (including one to you) by
Express to you—one for Garland3, one for Baxter4 and one for Mrs. Fairchild5—all for Christmas presents—package to be prepaid—can you
receive it & see they get to their destination?6—Where shall it (the
package) be directed to you, in Boston, if so?—I have seen the notice in the
Literary World7 & like
it well enough—Dr Bucke8 (I hear from him often) likes it
well—do you know its author? The Paris (France) Revue
Independent magazine November has a notice L of G.—also something in
a Palermo (Italy) paper—Dr B has them—No word now for quite a while from
my dear O'Connor9—I am very uneasy ab't him—I
have (did I tell you?) a good strong willing nurse10, & good
doctoring watch—I send my love & memories to Mrs: F., to Baxter, to
Garland, to yourself, dear friend, & wife11—& to Sanborn12 if you see him—I must now get to the bed—
Walt Whitman
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Correspondent:
William Sloane Kennedy
(1850–1929) was on the staff of the Philadelphia American and the Boston Transcript; he also
published biographies of Longfellow, Holmes, and Whittier (Dictionary of American Biography [New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1933], 336–337). Apparently Kennedy called on
the poet for the first time on November 21, 1880 (William Sloane Kennedy, Reminiscences of Walt Whitman [London: Alexander
Gardener, 1896], 1). Though Kennedy was to become a fierce defender of Whitman,
in his first published article he admitted reservations about the "coarse
indecencies of language" and protested that Whitman's ideal of democracy was
"too coarse and crude"; see The Californian, 3 (February
1881), 149–158. For more about Kennedy, see Katherine Reagan, "Kennedy, William Sloane (1850–1929)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998).
Notes
- 1. On December 13, 1888 William Sloane Kennedy inquired: "Did
you ever write a production called 'Solitude.' It is credited to you by a
pencil-script line in the Harvard College Library. I don't believe it is yrs,
but that it is an imitation. It is unbound, abt 2/3 the size of this sheet,
contains 16 pp. & has written on it in pencil 'Presented to the Library by
Prof. Jas. Russell Lowell, 1860. Sept 26." James Russell Lowell
(1819–1891) was editor of the Atlantic Monthly,
where he published Whitman's "Bardic Symbols" [later "As I Ebb'd with the Ocean
of Life"] in April of 1860. [back]
- 2. Whitman wanted to publish a "big
book" that included all of his writings, and, with the help of Horace Traubel,
Whitman made the presswork and binding decisions for the volume. Frederick
Oldach bound Whitman's Complete Poems & Prose (1888),
which included a profile photo of the poet on the title page. The book was
published in December 1888. For more information on the book, see Ed Folsom, Whitman Making Books/Books Making Whitman: A Catalog and
Commentary (University of Iowa: Obermann Center for Advanced Studies, 2005). [back]
- 3. Hamlin Garland
(1860–1940) was an American novelist and autobiographer, known especially
for his works about the hardships of farm life in the American Midwest. For his
relationship to Whitman, see Thomas K. Dean, "Garland, Hamlin," Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 4. Sylvester Baxter (1850–1927)
was on the staff of the Boston Herald. Apparently he met
Whitman for the first time when the poet delivered his Lincoln address in Boston
in April, 1881; see Rufus A. Coleman, "Whitman and Trowbridge," PMLA 63 (1948), 268. Baxter wrote many newspaper columns
in praise of Whitman's writings, and in 1886 attempted to obtain a pension for
the poet. For more, see Christopher O. Griffin, "Baxter, Sylvester [1850–1927]," Walt Whitman:
An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 5. Elizabeth Fairchild was
the wife of Colonel Charles Fairchild, the president of a paper company, to whom
Whitman sent the Centennial Edition on March 2, 1876 (Whitman's Commonplace
Book, Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman,
1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.). He mailed her husband a
copy of Progress in April, 1881, shortly after his visit
to Boston, where he probably met the Fairchilds for the first time (Commonplace
Book). [back]
- 6. Kennedy received the volumes
and delivered them as Whitman requested. See Kennedy's letter to Whitman of December 25, 1888. [back]
- 7. A review of November Boughs (1888) appeared in The
Literary World (Boston) on December 8, 1888. Richard Maurice Bucke
commented on December 16, 1888: "He [the author]
is a good friend and has considerable insight into matters—is evidently
holding himself in in the little col. and half article." [back]
- 8. Richard Maurice Bucke (1837–1902) was a
Canadian physician and psychiatrist who grew close to Whitman after reading Leaves of Grass in 1867 (and later memorizing it) and
meeting the poet in Camden a decade later. Even before meeting Whitman, Bucke
claimed in 1872 that a reading of Leaves of Grass led him
to experience "cosmic consciousness" and an overwhelming sense of epiphany.
Bucke became the poet's first biographer with Walt
Whitman (Philadelphia: David McKay, 1883), and he later served as one
of his medical advisors and literary executors. For more on the relationship of
Bucke and Whitman, see Howard Nelson, "Bucke, Richard Maurice," Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 9. Whitman has forgotten the
postcard O'Connor wrote on December 9,
1888,
in which he says: "I have been very sick and feeble for month past, but am a
little better. My eye got open at last, but is still bleary and bad." [back]
- 10. Edward "Ned" Wilkins
(1865–1936) was one of Whitman's nurses during his Camden years; he was
sent to Camden from London, Ontario, by Dr. Richard M. Bucke, and he began
caring for Whitman on November 5, 1888. He stayed for a year before returning to
Canada to attend the Ontario Veterinary School. Wilkins graduated on March 24,
1893, and then he returned to the United States to commence his practice in
Alexandria, Indiana. For more information, see Bert A. Thompson, "Edward
Wilkins: Male Nurse to Walt Whitman," Walt Whitman Review
15 (September 1969), 194–195. [back]
- 11. William Sloane Kennedy
married Adeline Ella Lincoln of Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1883; they lived
for forty years in a house they built in Belmont, Massachusetts. [back]
- 12. Franklin B. Sanborn
(1831–1917) was an abolitionist and a friend of John Brown. In 1860, when
he was tried in Boston because of his refusal to testify before a committee of
the U.S. Senate, Whitman was in the courtroom (Gay Wilson Allen, The Solitary Singer [New York: Macmillan, 1955], 242). He
reviewed Drum-Taps in the Boston
Commonwealth on February 24, 1866. He was editor of the Springfield
Republican from 1868 to 1872, and was the author of books dealing with
his friends Emerson, Thoreau, and Alcott. "A Visit to the Good Gray Poet"
appeared without Sanborn's name in the Springfield
Republican on April 19, 1876. For more on Sanborn, see Linda K. Walker,
"Sanborn, Franklin Benjamin (Frank) (1831–1917)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and
Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]