Camden
Jan 31 '90 P M
early1
Ab't the same as usual—a rare egg & Graham bread & prunes & coffee
for my breakfast—I am pretty moderate in eating, & w'd be abstemious, but I fancy a fairly efficient fortification in
stomach helps keep at bay quite many of the wolfs & wolflets of old fellows'
physical (& perhaps all fellows) attacks. I take no medicines at
all—hardly any alcoholic drink—never beer—eat plain
fare—never risk—the trick is to steer between that last mention'd need
to keep the wolf away & the benefit of very light food-eating, wh' is
decided for an old fellow—
I enclose my latest pieces—(have not yet seen the Feb: Century but suppose the poemet is in it)2—have just been engaged to write some little bits for Munyon's Illustrated World (monthly Phila)—will send you when
printed—$10 each, one paid3—So far have
escaped the grip, (but I guess I have the am't of it in my physical brain already,
& have had two years)—Alys Smith4 comes
regularly, does me good to see her—She is the handsomest, healthiest best
balanced young woman in the world known to me—have quite many
visitors—sold a big book5 yesterday—
God bless you & yours—
Walt Whitman
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, N.J. |
Jan 31(?) | 4 30 PM | 90. [back]
- 2. "Old Age's Ship & Crafty Death's" appeared in the February 1890
issue of the Century. [back]
- 3. On January 26, 1890,
Whitman sent to Melville Philips, of the Philadelphia Press, "Osceola" (The Commonplace-Book, Charles
E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library
of Congress, Washington, D.C.), which was printed in Munyon's
Illustrated World in April; see William Sloane Kennedy, The Fight of a Book for the World (1926), 271. Philips
and two photographers visited the poet on January 29 and "'took me' in my
room—(bo't two big books)" (The Commonplace-Book,
Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919,
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.). Whitman did not like the photograph; see
his February 22, 1890, letter to Melville
Philips. [back]
- 4. Alyssa ("Alys") Whitall Pearsall
Smith (1867–1951) was born in Philadelphia and became a Quaker relief
organizer. She attended Bryn Mawr College and was a graduate of the class of
1890. She and her family lived in Britain for two years during her childhood and
again beginning in 1888. She married the philosopher Bertrand Russell in 1894;
the couple later separated, and they divorced in 1921. Smith also served as the
chair of a society committee that set up the "Mothers and Babies Welcome" (the
St Pancras School for Mothers) in London in 1907; this health center, dedicated
to reducing the infant mortality rate, provided a range of medical and
educational services for women. Smith was the daughter of Robert Pearsall and
Hannah Whitall Smith, and she was the sister of Mary Whitall Smith
(1864–1945), the political activist, art historian, and critic, whom
Whitman once called his "staunchest living woman friend." [back]
- 5. Whitman often referred to Complete Poems & Prose (1888) as his "big book." The
volume was published by the poet himself in an arrangement with publisher David
McKay, who allowed Whitman to use the plates for both Leaves
of Grass and Specimen Days—in December
1888. With the help of Horace Traubel, Whitman made the presswork and binding
decisions, and Frederick Oldach bound the volume, which included a profile photo
of the poet on the title page. For more information on the book, see Ed Folsom,
Whitman Making Books/Books Making Whitman: A Catalog and
Commentary (University of Iowa: Obermann Center for Advanced Studies, 2005). [back]