Ada H. Spaulding to Walt Whitman, 4 January 1890
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My noble and dear friend—Walt Whitman,
I have had the pleasure of talking for you, and of you again. Yes—and a deep interest was aroused. It was good to hear the listener say—"I promise you—I will read him now." One man—fine—true and scholarly and sincere took my hand and said: "I am converted."
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Bless you—dear soul! Is it not good to have Truth for a theme?
How I want to see you and talk with you. That few minutes—was so much to me—yet it was so short. For years I have longed to sit beside you and have wondered how it would be. Then—when it came—it was so different from my fancies—but you dear friend, were not disappointing.
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Can you make a few strokes of your pen for me—just as a proof that the hand is no weaker than when I took it?
I don't know just what to send that shall give you comfort or pleasure. Flowers fade soon. Please have something that you want—and play that I sent it, instead of this unbeautiful Money Order.
With the tenderest wish—in the beginning of this New Year Ada H. Spaulding
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224 Huntington Ave.
1..4../90
Yes—I have "moved" this Autumn—and have been very busy and tired or I should have written sooner.
A.H.S.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.