Camden
11 a m Jan: 22 '901
Sunny & cold & dry to-day—(most yet this
winter)—I keep on much the same—probably slowly certainly ebbing—fairly buoyant spirits—rare egg & tea
& bread for breakfast—good bowel action—Shall probably have a poemet
(8 or 9 lines) in Feb. Century2—Shall send it you in slip, soon as out—Stead3 has
sent me his "Review of Reviews" f'm London4—shall I
send it to you? Horace5 has it now—
I have written to Mrs. Costelloe6—Alys7 comes quite regularly—R[obert] P[earsall]
S[mith]8 is well—Logan9
writes—am sitting here dully enough—stupid—no
exhilaration—no massage or wheel-chair10 to day—my nurse11 has disappear'd for the day—now 3½
oclock—If I had a good hospital, well conducted—some good nurse—to
retreat to for good I sometimes think it w'd be best for me—I shall probably
get worse, & may linger along yet some time—of course I know that death
has struck me & it is only a matter of time, but may be quite a time
yet—But I must get off this line—don't know why I got on it—but
having written I will let it remain12—enclosed (I
have just come across it & I tho't I w'd send it to you) is Sylvanus Baxter's
Pension Proposition two years ago—Peremptorily declined by me—but for
all that & against my own decision put before the U S H[ouse of]
R[epresentatives] pension committee at Washington &
passed, (did I send you the U S H R Committee report?)13—but not definitively pass'd by Congress—Perhaps I had better tell
you, dear Maurice, that the money or income question is the one that least bothers me—I have enough to last. This is a sort
of crazy letter but I will let it go14—
Walt Whitman
finish'd toward 4 P M—all right—
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).
Notes
- 1. This letter is addressed:
Dr Bucke | Asylum | London | Ontario | Canada. It is postmarked: Camden (?) |
Jan 23 | 6 AM | 90; London | AM Ja 24 | O | Canada. [back]
- 2. "Old Age's Ship & Crafty Death's" appeared in the February 1890
issue. See Whitman's January 2, 1889, letter to
Bucke. [back]
- 3. William Thomas Stead
(1849–1912) was a well-known English journalist and editor of The Pall Mall Gazette in the 1880s. He was a proponent of
what he called "government by journalism" and advocated for a strong press that
would influence public opinion and affect government decision-making. His
investigative reports were much discussed and often had significant social
impact. He has sometimes been credited with inventing what came to be called
"tabloid journalism," since he worked to make newspapers more attractive to
readers, incorporating maps, illustrations, interviews, and eye-catching
headlines. He died on the Titanic when it sank in
1912. [back]
- 4. William T. Stead wrote to
Whitman on January 7, 1890 about his new journal.
See Whitman's letter of January 3, 1887 to Henry
Norman; see also the poet's letter of August 17,
1887 to William T. Stead. [back]
- 5. Horace L. Traubel (1858–1919)
was an American essayist, poet, and magazine publisher. He is best remembered as
the literary executor, biographer, and self-fashioned "spirit child" of Walt
Whitman. During the late 1880s and until Whitman's death in 1892, Traubel visited
the poet virtually every day and took thorough notes of their conversations,
which he later transcribed and published in three large volumes entitled With Walt Whitman in Camden (1906, 1908, & 1914).
After his death, Traubel left behind enough manuscripts for six more volumes of
the series, the final two of which were published in 1996. For more on Traubel,
see Ed Folsom, "Traubel, Horace L. [1858–1919]," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 6. Mary Whitall Smith Costelloe
(1864–1945) was a political activist, art historian, and critic, whom
Whitman once called his "staunchest living woman friend." A scholar of Italian
Renaissance art and a daughter of Robert Pearsall Smith, she would in 1885 marry
B. F. C. "Frank" Costelloe. She had been in contact with many of Whitman's
English friends and would travel to Britain in 1885 to visit many of them,
including Anne Gilchrist shortly before her death. For more, see Christina
Davey, "Costelloe, Mary Whitall Smith (1864–1945)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D.
Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 7. Alys Smith (1867–1951)
was Mary Costelloe's sister. She would eventually marry the philosopher Bertrand
Russell. [back]
- 8. Robert Pearsall Smith
(1827–1898) was a Quaker who became an evangelical minister associated
with the "Holiness movement." He was also a writer and businessman. Whitman
often stayed at his Philadelphia home, where the poet became friendly with the
Smith children—Mary, Logan, and Alys. For more information about Smith,
see Christina Davey, "Smith, Robert Pearsall (1827–1898)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 9. Logan Pearsall Smith
(1865–1946) was an essayist and literary critic. He was the son of Robert
Pearsall Smith, a minister and writer who befriended Whitman, and he was the
brother of Mary Whitall Smith Costelloe, one of Whitman's most avid followers.
For more information on Logan, see Christina Davey, "Smith, Logan Pearsall (1865–1946)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 10. Horace Traubel and Ed
Wilkins, Whitman's nurse, went to Philadelphia to purchase a wheeled chair for
the poet that would allow him to be "pull'd or push'd" outdoors. See Whitman's
letter to William Sloane Kennedy of May 8,
1889. [back]
- 11. 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]
- 12. In 1889 Bucke had
suggested that Walt Whitman consider going to the Johns Hopkins Hospital. See
Whitman's April 27–28, 1889 and May 6, 1889, letters to Bucke. Alys Smith visited
the hospital before she wrote on January 4, 1890.
On January 25 Bucke praised it "as a palace of
medical skill and physical comfort for the sick and helpless," and on January 29 he sent Whitman a note from Dr. William
Osler, to whom he had written about hospital accommodations. [back]
- 13. See Whitman's December 8, 1886 letter to Sylvester Baxter. [back]
- 14. Mounted in the lower
right-hand corner of this letter is a clipping from the Boston Evening Transcript of January 18 describing a series of lectures on
American art and literature to be given by Hamlin Garland at the Boston School
of Oratory: "The genre and landscape poetry of Whitman." [back]