Superb sunny day again & I am feeling all as right as could be expected—Still on mutton broth with toast & plenty of rice & a few mouthfuls of the stew'd mutton. As I told you, bowel action fair—A little of what I call cold in the head, but slight so far—Dr Walsh2 here last evn'g—he himself quite unwell—no Osler3 now for a fortnight—I enclose Mrs: O'C[onnor]'s4 card rec'd this mn'g—Ed: Stafford5 has been here—they are all well as usual & every thing goes on the same as of old—
So we have commenced on another year—& where it will take us, & how, are indeed mercifully hidden—for the pique of weaving & watching (with a gambler's uncertainty) makes the background & basis of the whole business—I have been reading "Goethe's & Carlyle's correspondence"6 wh' I find interesting—presents C in a different light from any other—
Walt WhitmanCorrespondent:
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).