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Walt Whitman to Hannah Whitman Heyde, 3 October 1891

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Am pleas'd​ you get my notes entirely unopen'd3—the money is for your service—warm weather here yet—badly sick all the week—& yet—have pass'd​ most of the day stretch'd out on the bed—Mrs. D4 sick quite badly—neuralgia—Warry5 my nurse is helpful & good—of course I am up now & sitting by the window in pretty fair spirits—have had my supper—drank a cup of hot tea—am sweating—how short the days are getting—Love to you sister dear—hope & pray this will find you comfortable 2 enc'd

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Notes

  • 1. In March 1884, Whitman purchased a house at 328 Mickle Street in Camden, New Jersey. He would live in this house until his death on March 26, 1892. [back]
  • 2. 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]
  • 3. Charles Louis Heyde, Hannah's husband, at times opened Hannah's mail, read her letters, and extracted the funds that the Whitman family sent to her. Whitman was aware of Heyde's surveillance. [back]
  • 4. Mrs. Mary Oakes Davis (1837 or 1838–1908), Whitman's housekeeper, moved into Whitman's house on Mickle street on February 24, 1885, and lived in a small apartment in the rear of the house. She was a widow and had been married to a Sea Captain. See Carol J. Singley, "Davis, Mary Oakes (1837 or 1838–1908)," in Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R.LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
  • 5. Frank Warren Fritzinger (1867–1899), known as "Warry," took Edward Wilkins's place as Whitman's nurse, beginning in October 1889. Fritzinger and his brother Harry were the sons of Henry Whireman Fritzinger (about 1828–1881), a former sea captain who went blind, and Almira E. Fritzinger. Following Henry Sr.'s death, Warren and his brother—having lost both parents—became wards of Mary O. Davis, Whitman's housekeeper, who had also taken care of the sea captain and who inherited part of his estate. A picture of Warry is displayed in the May 1891 New England Magazine (278). See Joann P. Krieg, "Fritzinger, Frederick Warren (1866–1899)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998), 240. [back]
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