loc_gt.00033_large.jpg
Mickle St: Camden1
Sept: 6 '91
Dear friends all—
Seems quite a while since I have seen any of you, or heard f'm you,
George or Harry,2 or any—Hope
& pray it is going all smoothly with you all—I
am still slowly getting along much on the same way as of late years,
("always sick but never die")—got out yesterday to the Cemetery3
for a short drive—& have eaten
quite a hearty breakfast this forenoon—So you see I keep up sort
o'—Dr Bucke4 has return'd f'm England5
& is here at present—well & hearty—He
saw Edward Carpenter6 who is well & flourishing—Mrs
O'Connor7 has been here a week
returns to Wash'n to morrow—Did you get the August
Lippincott's8 magazine?
I am more helpless than ever, or I sh'd come down
& see you—sister9 & bro:10 at Burlington N J are well—
own sister11 Burlington Vermont sick & poorly—my bro:
Ed12 all right—remembrance & love to all, to you & George & Harry & Eva13 &
Ed14 & Debby15 & all—
Walt Whitman
loc_gt.00034_large.jpg
Correspondent:
George (1827–1892) and Susan
Stafford (1833–1910) were the parents of Harry Stafford, a young man whom
Whitman befriended in 1876 in Camden. They were tenant farmers at White Horse
Farm near Kirkwood, New Jersey, where Whitman visited them on several occasions.
For more on Whitman and the Staffords, see David G. Miller, "Stafford, George and Susan M." Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings, ed., (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998), 685.
Notes
- 1. Whitman wrote this letter on
stationery printed with the following notice from the Boston
Evening Transcript: "From the Boston Eve'g
Transcript, May 7, '91.—The Epictetus saying, as given by Walt
Whitman in his own quite utterly dilapidated physical case is, a 'little spark
of soul dragging a great lummux of corpse-body clumsily to and fro
around.'" [back]
- 2. Walt Whitman met the 18-year-old Harry Lamb Stafford
(1858–1918) in 1876, beginning a relationship which was almost entirely
overlooked by early Whitman scholarship, in part because Stafford's name appears
nowhere in the first six volumes of Horace Traubel's With Walt
Whitman in Camden—though it does appear frequently in the last
three volumes, which were published only in the 1990s. Whitman occasionally
referred to Stafford as "My (adopted) son" (as in a December 13, 1876, letter to John H. Johnston), but the relationship
between the two also had a romantic, erotic charge to it. In 1883, Harry married
Eva Westcott. For further discussion of Stafford, see Arnie Kantrowitz, "Stafford, Harry L. (b.1858)," Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 3. Whitman was making plans to
be buried in Harleigh Cemetery, in Camden, New Jersey, in an elaborate granite
tomb that he designed. Reinhalter and Company of Philadelphia built the tomb, at
a cost of $4,000. Whitman covered a portion of these costs with money that
his Boston friends had raised so that the poet could purchase a summer cottage;
the remaining balance was paid by Whitman's literary executor, Thomas Harned.
For more information on the cemetery and Whitman's tomb, see See Geoffrey M.
Still, "Harleigh Cemetery," Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 4. Richard Maurice Bucke (1837–1902) was a
Canadian physician and psychiatrist who grew close to Whitman after reading Leaves of Grass in 1867 (and later memorizing it) and
meeting the poet in Camden a decade later. Even before meeting Whitman, Bucke
claimed in 1872 that a reading of Leaves of Grass led him
to experience "cosmic consciousness" and an overwhelming sense of epiphany.
Bucke became the poet's first biographer with Walt
Whitman (Philadelphia: David McKay, 1883), and he later served as one
of his medical advisors and literary executors. For more on the relationship of
Bucke and Whitman, see Howard Nelson, "Bucke, Richard Maurice," Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 5. During the months of July
and August 1891, Bucke traveled in England in an attempt to establish a foreign
market for the gas and fluid meter he was developing with his brother-in-law
William Gurd. On the trip, he spent time with Dr. John Johnston and James W.
Wallace, the co-founders of the Bolton College of Whitman admirers. Bucke also
visited the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson. [back]
- 6. Edward Carpenter (1844–1929) was an English
writer and Whitman disciple. Like many other young disillusioned Englishmen, he
deemed Whitman a prophetic spokesman of an ideal state cemented in the bonds of
brotherhood. Carpenter—a socialist philosopher who in his book Civilisation, Its Cause and Cure posited civilization as
a "disease" with a lifespan of approximately one thousand years before human
society cured itself—became an advocate for same-sex love and a
contributing early founder of Britain's Labour Party. On July 12, 1874, he wrote for the first time to Whitman: "Because you
have, as it were, given me a ground for the love of men I thank you continually
in my heart . . . . For you have made men to be not ashamed of the noblest
instinct of their nature." For further discussion of Carpenter, see Arnie
Kantrowitz, "Carpenter, Edward [1844–1929]," Walt Whitman:
An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 7. Ellen M. "Nelly" O'Connor (1830–1913) was the
wife of William D. O'Connor (1832–1889), one of Whitman's staunchest
defenders. Before marrying William, Ellen Tarr was active in the antislavery and
women's rights movements as a contributor to the Liberator and to a women's rights newspaper Una. Whitman dined with the O'Connors frequently during his Washington
years. Though Whitman and William O'Connor would temporarily break off their
friendship in late 1872 over Reconstruction policies with regard to emancipated
African Americans, Ellen would remain friendly with Whitman. The correspondence
between Whitman and Ellen is almost as voluminous as the poet's correspondence
with William. Three years after William O'Connor's death, Ellen married the
Providence businessman Albert Calder. For more on Whitman's relationship with the O'Connors, see Dashae
E. Lott, "O'Connor, William Douglas [1832–1889]" and Lott's "O'Connor (Calder),
Ellen ('Nelly') M. Tarr (1830–1913)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 8. "Walt Whitman's Last," an
"explanation" of his book Good-Bye My Fancy (1891), was
published in the August 1891 issue of Lippincott's Monthly
Magazine. Horace Traubel's article "Walt Whitman's Birthday, May 31,
1891"—a detailed account of the poet's seventy-second (and last)
birthday—was also published in this issue. [back]
- 9. Louisa Orr Haslam Whitman
(1842–1892), called "Loo" or "Lou," married Walt's brother George Whitman
on April 14, 1871. They moved to Camden in 1872. Walt Whitman lived with them
from 1873–1884. For more information, see Karen Wolfe, "Whitman, Louisa Orr Haslam (Mrs. George) (1842–1892)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and
Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 10. George Washington Whitman (1829–1901) was the
sixth child of Louisa Van Velsor Whitman and ten years Walt Whitman's junior.
George enlisted in 1861 and remained on active duty until the end of the Civil
War. He was wounded in the First Battle of Fredericksburg (December 1862) and
was taken prisoner during the Battle of Poplar Grove (September 1864). As a
Civil War correspondent, Walt wrote warmly about George's service, such as in
"Our Brooklyn Boys in the War" (January 5,
1863); "A Brooklyn Soldier, and a Noble One"
(January 19, 1865); "Return of a Brooklyn Veteran"
(March 12, 1865); and "Our Veterans Mustering Out"
(August 5, 1865). After the war, George returned to Brooklyn and began building
houses on speculation, with partner Mr. Smith and later a mason named French.
George also took a position as inspector of pipes in Brooklyn and Camden. Walt
and George lived together for over a decade in Camden, but when Walt decided not
to move with George and his wife Louisa in 1884, a rift occurred that was
ultimately not mended before Walt's 1892 death. For more information on George
Washington Whitman, see Martin G. Murray, "Whitman, George Washington," Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 11. Hannah Louisa (Whitman) Heyde
(1823–1908), youngest sister of Walt Whitman, married Charles Louis Heyde
(ca. 1820–1892), a Pennsylvania-born landscape painter. Charles Heyde was
infamous among the Whitmans for his offensive letters and poor treatment of
Hannah. Hannah and Charles Heyde lived in Burlington, Vermont. For more, see
Paula K. Garrett, "Whitman (Heyde), Hannah Louisa (d. 1908)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 12. Edward Whitman (1835–1892),
called "Eddy" or "Edd," was the youngest son of Louisa Van Velsor Whitman and
Walter Whitman, Sr. He required lifelong assistance for significant physical and
mental disabilities, and he remained in the care of his mother until her death
in 1873. During his mother's final illness, George Whitman and his wife Louisa
Orr Haslam Whitman took over Eddy's care, with financial support from Walt
Whitman. In 1888, Eddy was moved to an asylum at Blackwood, New Jersey. For more
information on Edward, see Randall Waldron, "Whitman, Edward (1835–1892)," Walt Whitman:
An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 13. Eva M. Westcott
(1857–1939) was a teacher in New Jersey. She married Harry Lamb Stafford
on June 25, 1883, and together they had three children. [back]
- 14. Edwin Stafford (1856–1906) was one of George
and Susan Stafford's sons. He was the brother of Harry Stafford, a close
acquaintance of Whitman. [back]
- 15. Deborah Stafford Browning
(1860–1945) was Susan and George Stafford's daughter. [back]