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Camden
P M June 30 '91.1
Warm wave continued—Y'rs of 28th welcom'd2—Ab't same with me as of late—head-ache
(think eat too much meat lately)—my bro: George3
here on quite a long visit to-day—Warry4
has taken notion to go on to N Y & will see you if convenient at 4 P M on board the
Britannic5 on Tuesday 7th6—he has one or two things (small) to hand over to
you—one to go to Bolton7—(returns here same
evn'g)—be there at 4 P M Tuesday 7th—
Last evn'g rec'd
word that my sister8 at Burlington Vt: is much better—great weight off my
mind—(very ill lately—jaundice)9—bowel motion yesterday—Chs: W Eldridge10
here yest'y—sit here in my shirt sleeves in big chair by the window—no decision yet ab't
H. M. & Co11: pub'ng O'C's12 book13—Enc'd piece
is f'm Boston Trans: safe & jolly voyage to you—
Walt Whitman
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June 30
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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. | Jun
30 | 8 PM | 91; [illegible] | [illegible] | 9PM | 1891 | Transit;
London | PM | JY 2 | 91 | Canada. Whitman wrote this letter on stationery
printed with the following notice from the Boston Evening
Transcript: "From the Boston Eve'g Transcript,
May 7, '91.—The Epictetus saying, as given by Walt Whitman in his
own quite utterly dilapidated physical case is, a 'little spark of soul dragging
a great lummux of corpse-body clumsily to and fro around.'" [back]
- 2. Whitman is referring to
Bucke's letter of June 28, 1891, which Bucke
incorrectly dated "28 July 1891." [back]
- 3. George Washington Whitman
(1829–1901) was Walt's brother and the sixth child of Louisa Van Velsor
Whitman. He was ten years Walt Whitman's junior. For more information on George
Washington Whitman, see Martin G. Murray, "Whitman, George Washington," Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 4. 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]
- 5. The SS
Britannic was a transatlantic ocean liner that traveled the
Liverpool-New York City route from 1874 to 1899. It was known for many years as
one of the fastest steamships traveling the Atlantic. Bucke was a passenger on
the SS Britannic when he traveled to England in the summer of 1891. [back]
- 6. During the months of July
and August 1891, Bucke traveled in England in an attempt to establish a foreign
market for the gas and fluid meter he was developing with his brother-in-law
William Gurd. On the trip, he spent time with Dr. John Johnston and James W.
Wallace, the co-founders of the Bolton College of Whitman admirers. Bucke also
visited the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson. [back]
- 7. When Whitman's canary
died, Warry (Whitman's nurse) and Mrs. Davis (Whitman's housekeeper) had it
stuffed and placed on the mantle beneath a photograph. According to Dr.
Johnston's letter on May 19–20, Warry had
apparently suggested that the poet give it to the Bolton group. Bucke duly took
it with him when he went to England, and on July
23 the co-founder of the Bolton group of Whitman admirers, James W.
Wallace, thanked Whitman for "a very affecting & precious souvenir of you to
me." On August 3 he wrote to Mrs. Davis: "I need not to tell you how deeply I
prize it. It is a very precious & affecting souvenir of Mr. Whitman—of
his lonely room, his thoughts & memories, & the cheer received from the
canary's (also caged imprisoned) joyous warblings. It connects itself with
memories of my mother's like condition—her only companion often a canary
too." See the letter from Wallace to Mary Davis in the Papers of Walt Whitman
(MSS 3829), Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Albert H.
Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia. See also Johnston and
Wallace's Visits to Walt Whitman in 1890–91
(London, England: G. Allen & Unwin, ltd., 1917), 60–61n. [back]
- 8. Hannah Louisa Whitman Heyde
(1823–1908) was the fourth child of Walter and Louisa Whitman and Walt
Whitman's youngest sister. Hannah was named for her paternal grandmother, Hannah
Brush Whitman (1753–1834), and her mother, Louisa Van Velsor Whitman
(1795–1873). Although Walt Whitman had a close relationship with his
younger brother Jeff Whitman, Hannah was his favorite, most beloved sibling.
Until she married, Hannah lived at home with her parents and her brothers.
Educated at the Hempstead Academy, Hannah taught school in rural Long Island. On
March 23, 1852, Hannah married Charles Louis Heyde (ca. 1820–1892), a
landscape painter. It is possible that Walt introduced Hannah to Charles. In
August 1852 the Heydes departed for Vermont. The first decade of their marriage
was marked by constant moving from boarding houses to hotels, mostly in rural
Vermont, as Heyde sought out vantage points for his landscape paintings. In 1864
the Heydes settled in Burlington, purchasing a house on Pearl Street. After
Hannah's marriage and relocation to Vermont, Mother Whitman became Hannah's
faithful correspondent; Walt also kept in touch, sending letters and editions of
Leaves of Grass after publication. Hannah faced
several health crises during her marriage, partly due to the ongoing trauma of
emotional, verbal, and physical intimate partner violence that she experienced.
In the 1880s and 1890s Heyde increasingly had difficulty earning enough to cover
household expenses; in addition, he may have become an alcoholic. He repeatedly
asked Whitman for funds to cover their expenses. Whitman sent both Heyde and
Hannah small amounts of money. After Heyde died in 1892, Hannah remained in
Burlington, living in their house on Pearl Street until her death in 1908. For
more information, see Paula K. Garrett, "Whitman (Heyde), Hannah Louisa (d. 1908)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 9. According to Charles Heyde,
Hannah's husband, Hannah had been diagnosed with jaundice. She was being
treated, but was nevertheless "very weak." See Heyde's letter to Walt Whitman of
June 25, 1891. [back]
- 10. Charles W. Eldridge (1837–1903) was one half
of the Boston-based abolitionist publishing firm Thayer and Eldridge, who issued
the 1860 edition of Leaves of Grass. In December 1862, on
his way to find his injured brother George in Fredericksburg, Virginia, Whitman
stopped in Washington and encountered Eldridge, who had become a clerk in the
office of the army paymaster, Major Lyman Hapgood. Eldridge helped Whitman gain employment in Hapgood's office.
For more on Whitman's relationship with
Thayer and Eldridge, see David Breckenridge Donlon, "Thayer, William Wilde (1829–1896) and Charles W. Eldridge
(1837–1903)," Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 11. Houghton and Mifflin, a Boston
publishing company founded by Henry Oscar Houghton and George Mifflin, had
merged with Ticknor and Fields in 1880, creating Houghton, Mifflin and
Company. [back]
- 12. William Sloane Kennedy
(1850–1929) was on the staff of the Philadelphia American and the Boston Transcript; he also
published biographies of Longfellow, Holmes, and Whittier (Dictionary of American Biography [New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1933], 336–337). Apparently Kennedy called on
the poet for the first time on November 21, 1880 (William Sloane Kennedy, Reminiscences of Walt Whitman [London: Alexander
Gardener, 1896], 1). Though Kennedy was to become a fierce defender of Whitman,
in his first published article he admitted reservations about the "coarse
indecencies of language" and protested that Whitman's ideal of democracy was
"too coarse and crude"; see The Californian, 3 (February
1881), 149–158. For more about Kennedy, see Katherine Reagan, "Kennedy, William Sloane (1850–1929)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 13. Three of O'Connor's
stories with a preface by Whitman were published in Three
Tales: The Ghost, The Brazen Android, The Carpenter (Boston and New
York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1892). The preface was included in Good-Bye My Fancy (Philadelphia: David McKay, 1891),
51–53. [back]