Ada H. Spaulding to Walt Whitman, 28 August 1891
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LAKE VIEW HOUSE
and
AUSABLE CHASM
W. H. TRACY,
PROPRIETOR.
CHAS. FURY,
MANAGER.
POST OFFICE ADDRESS,
AUSABLE CHASM, N. Y.
Aug. 28
1891
Dear Walt Whitman:
Many letters would you have had from me, if the thought of you always had written expression. Since visiting you, illness has controlled much of the time. On tomorrow evening I shall be D. V.1) in the midst of brick and stone again, in my home in Boston. In this morning's walk, to Alice Falls, I picked a few of the tiny flowers that fringe the dripping rocks. I picked them on purpose for you—and here they are—with my love and gratitude. Blessings upon you for your brave true words—
Sincerely A.H. Spaulding
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Spaulding
Correspondent:
Ada H. Spaulding (b. 1841),
née Pearsons, was a socialite and active member of various reform movements
and women's clubs. She served as the President of the Home Club of East Boston
and was a member of the Women's Educational and Industrial Union. She married
Ebenezer Spaulding, an Assistant Surgeon during the Civil War, and, later, a
homeopathic physician and surgeon who practiced in Boston. Ada Spaulding read
and admired Whitman's poetry, visited the poet, and wrote a number of letters to
him in his final years. For more on Spaulding, see Sherry Ceniza, "Women's Letters to Walt
Whitman: Some Corrections," Walt Whitman Quarterly
Review 9 (Winter 1992), 142–147.
Notes
- 1. "D.V." stands for "Deus Vult" or "God Willing." [back]