I returned from Toronto (after attending, yesterday, Mrs O'Reilly's2 funeral) at noon today and find your long and interesting
letter of Saturday and Sunday enclosing Mrs. O'Connor's3 most
pathetic letter, to you, of 9th.4 Poor Mrs O'Connor is indeed alone, I fear the rest of her life will be terribly
lonely. I am much pleased that you have actually been out in the chair5 and that you
seemed to find it a success—I shall feel easier about you—you will not
be so horribly dull now though you may still be dull enough. But to get out even a
little while once or twice a day (in good weather) will undoubtedly break the
monotony a little. It will be good for Ed,6 too, will give him
something to do—some little exercise. I am glad to hear that you sweat freely
loc_es.00590.jpgnow that the warm
weather has come. It is a capital thing for you and frequent baths with more or less
massage each day will keep the skin acting and will be most beneficial to you.7 Do not be discouraged because you do not see good
effects from such things (as baths, massage, getting out &c &c) at
once—at your age reaction takes place slowly—but all these things will
tell in the long run and I have good hopes that you may make a rally yet for you
have a constitution of ten thousand. The letter containing the 1st prescription must have miscarried (I certainly sent it). I do not think
very much of the dinner scheme8 but all the same I should
like to be there (have heard nothing abt. it except your letter).9 If there were
some good speeches well reported it might not be amiss (I am a firm believer in all
legitimate forms of advertizing). I should like to be there and make a speech myself
all right enough
Correspondent:
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).