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Walt Whitman to Louisa Orr Haslam Whitman, 16 November [1885]

 loc_ad.00231_large.jpg Dear Lou

Thanks for the beautiful & costly wolf-skin robe,—it is just the thing I wanted most—already comes in first rate—used it yesterday—Ed's stockings1 came Saturday—I am feeling pretty well—better than three weeks ago

Walt Whitman  loc_ad.00232_large.jpg

Correspondent:
Louisa Orr Haslam Whitman (1842–1892), called "Loo" or "Lou," married Whitman's brother George Whitman on April 14, 1871. Their son, Walter Orr Whitman, was born in 1875 but died the following year. A second son was stillborn. Whitman lived in Camden, New Jersey, with George and Louisa from 1873 until 1884, when George and Louisa moved to a farm outside of Camden and Whitman decided to stay in the city. Louisa and Whitman had a warm relationship during the poet's final decades. For more, 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).


Notes

  • 1. These stockings were for Whitman's mentally and physically incapacitated brother Edward, who had lived with George and Louisa but was now living at a boarding house in the country. [back]
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