I have yours of 13th1 I do not
like that abdominal pain continuing so long and I do not like those darting pains you
mention. I have written to Horace2 about it and have told him to
arrange to have some good doctor from Phila come over and see what you need. I hope
you will not make any difficulty about this reasonable step. If the Dr does you no
good he certainly will do you no harm. I am much disappointed at what you tell me about
the new glasses and I think you would be wrong to lay them aside as you seem to be
doing—if they are not right they should be altered and if they are right they
should be worn.3 Thomas4 &
Fox5 gave me the glasses I have on at present—for a week or
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two they gave me a great annoyance, even distress, but I stuck to them as Thomas told
me and they have been a real comfort to me since.
I have just read "Old Poets"6 again for the third or fourth time—it grows upon me somehow—I like it better—you have (of course) said it all before (and more than once) but there is no harm in saying it again in slightly varied language—the language of the article is certainly admirable and what it says and suggests is important enough to hear almost any amount of repetition
With best love Your friend RM BuckeCorrespondent:
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).