I simply hated to take leave of you. My visits to you this winter have been such a pleasure to me & it is one of my greatest regrets in leaving America that I must leave you behind. If only Camden were a loc_jc.00060_large.jpg little near London! I hoped that perhaps I could get over to see you once again, but I was kept too busy with the graduation just at the last. I hope you saw the account of it all in the Ledger.
We have been at sea nearly a week, & we hope to reach Southampton on Sunday. loc_jc.00061_large.jpg I can hardly realize that I shall see all my dear family so soon. The voyage has been rough & uneventful, except for three icebergs & two whales!
I do hope you will keep well this summer thro' all the hot weather, dear Mr. Whitman.
You must send us an occasional postal card to let us know how loc_jc.00062_large.jpg you are. I shall be quite proud to be able to give all your London friends the latest news of you.
Please give my love to Mrs. Davis,2 & keep a great deal for yourself, my dear, dear friend.
Yours most affectionately Alys W. SmithCorrespondent:
Alyssa ("Alys") Whitall Pearsall
Smith (1867–1951) was born in Philadelphia and became a Quaker relief
organizer. She attended Bryn Mawr College and was a graduate of the class of
1890. She and her family lived in Britain for two years during her childhood and
again beginning in 1888. She married the philosopher Bertrand Russell in 1894;
the couple later separated, and they divorced in 1921. Smith also served as the
chair of a society committee that set up the "Mothers and Babies Welcome" (the
St Pancras School for Mothers) in London in 1907; this health center, dedicated
to reducing the infant mortality rate, provided a range of medical and
educational services for women. Smith was the daughter of Robert Pearsall and
Hannah Whitall Smith, and she was the sister of Mary Whitall Smith
(1864–1945), the political activist, art historian, and critic, whom
Whitman once called his "staunchest living woman friend."