Title: Walt Whitman to Peter Doyle, 21 August [1874]
Date: August 21, 1874
Whitman Archive ID: nyp.00352
Source: The Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature, New York Public Library. The transcription presented here is derived from Walt Whitman, The Correspondence, ed. Edwin Haviland Miller (New York: New York University Press, 1961–1977), 2:313. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.
Contributors to digital file: Kenneth M. Price, Elizabeth Lorang, Kathryn Kruger, Zachary King, and Eric Conrad
431 Stevens st
Camden,
N. Jersey.
Aug 21.1
Your last, & paper, rec'd—have had a tolerably good week but nothing to brag of2—middling comfortable to-day—very hot here to-day—tell your RR. chum if he sees me in Phil. he must make himself known to me.
W. W.
1.
This postcard bears the address, "Pete Doyle, | M street South, bet 4½ &
6th | Washington, D.C." It is postmarked: "Camden | Aug | 21 | N.J.; Carrier
| 22 | Aug | (?)."
The dating of this postcard as well as the notes and letters to Doyle on July 31, August 7, 14, and 28, 1874, depends in part on Whitman's habit of writing on
Fridays. However, as evidenced in Whitman's August
5 letter to Ellen O'Connor and his August
18 letter to John and Ursula Burroughs, both of which were
conclusively written in 1874, Whitman's "alternations" were especially
marked during the summer of this year, and despite his "natural buoyancy" he
was frequently depressed by the inability of his once healthy body to
triumph over his ailments. [back]
2. According to his August 18, 1874 letter to John and Ursula Burroughs, Whitman was enjoying a slight respite from pain. [back]