Ada H. Spaulding to Walt Whitman, 27 March 1889
loc_jc.00355_large.jpg
Dear Friend
You were so good as to call yourself so, in my book,—that I value more than you guess,—and may I not claim you now?
If you received all the letters I write you mentally, you
would have sufficient kindling for a long Winter. I do even begin them upon paper,
but words, that I know how to put together, seem so weak against the truth 
loc_jc.00356_large.jpg of which I wish to
speak, that the unfinished letter goes into the waste basket, first torn into inch
pieces. On yesterday I sent some flowers to speak for me. They know how to talk
without tiring you. They can speak of divine things without mockery. They can speak
of tenderness, without annoying you. They can talk with you of "India"—of
"more than India"—and you will understand each other. I do not know what
flowers you love best. If I were arranging flowers for your room, I should have
masses of one kind, if I 
loc_jc.00357_large.jpg could. In this case, I thought a few sprays of the more delicate
miracles, quite a variety of them, might enable you to fancy you had left your room,
and were picking them as you walked. I wanted to see them put in the box, but the
kind hearted man who held them in his care assured me they had better remain
unpacked till just before the express train left Boston. The dear little crocuses I
picked from my own tiny spot of earth, and sent each one laden with
loving wishes. May they carry their messages safely.
I wonder if you have an idea how much I enjoyed 
loc_jc.00358_large.jpg being with you—or how hard it
was for me to leave you.
(I worried after leaving, lest I had stayed too long a time and wearied you.) I have longed to see you as I never longed to see the Alps. There seemed no prospect of my going. The way seemed hedged. Then—a friend opened the gate and let me through. I have not called on Mrs. Fairchild1 yet. I have been too busy, but am anticipating the pleasure soon. How good it will be to speak with her of you.
Good bye—good bye—
God bless you ever—ever—!
Sometime America will know what you have done for her. In the meantime, souls, here and there, in sorrow2 and in gladness, think of you and love you.
With deep gratitude A.H. Spaulding Boston. Princeton St. 9 3..27../89Correspondent:
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. 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]
- 2. The rest of the letter is written vertically at the top of the first page. [back]