The Walt Whitman Archive
Life & Letters
Correspondence
About this Item
Title: Walt Whitman to Susan Stafford, 27 January 1888
Date: January 27, 1888
Whitman Archive ID: loc.03862
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.
Notes for this letter were derived from Walt Whitman, The Correspondence, ed. Edwin Haviland Miller, 6 vols. (New York: New York University Press, 1961–1977), and supplemented, updated, or created by Whitman Archive staff as appropriate.
Contributors to digital file: Ryan Furlong, Ian Faith, Stefan Schöberlein, and Stephanie Blalock
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Camden P M
Jan. 27 '88
Quite froze up here, but ab't as usual, tho' a trifle less well than common this winter—a bad obstinate cold in the head among the rest—I don't get out at all—I am writing a little to order—got up late to-day—had chocolate & buckwheat cakes with quince jelly for my breakfast—am sitting here by a good fire—How are you all?—I wish Ed1 or Jo2 would stop & tell me—
W W
Correspondent:
Susan M. Lamb Stafford
(1833–1910) was the mother of Harry Stafford (1858–1918), who, in
1876, became a close friend of Whitman while working at the printing office of
the Camden New Republic. Whitman regularly visited the
Staffords at their family farm near Kirkwood, New Jersey. Whitman enjoyed the
atmosphere and tranquility that the farm provided and would often stay for weeks
at a time (see David G. Miller, "Stafford, George and Susan M.," Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings [New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998], 685).
Notes:
1. Edwin Stafford (1856–1906) was one of Susan Stafford's sons. [back]
2. Joseph Browning was married to Susan Stafford's daughter Deborah. [back]