Title: Walt Whitman to Peter Doyle, 16 April [1875]
Date: April 16, 1875
Whitman Archive ID: nyp.00364
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), 2:328. 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.
cor West.
Camden,
N. Jersey
April 16.1
Condition tolerable—I keep good heart yet—have no doubt I shall be able to come to Wash[ington]—but when, don't know now—John Bur[roughs] was here last night to see me, on his way to Wash[ington]—hope you are all right—do you like the berth?—papers, card, &c. rec'd—Can't you come on, & get back to Balt[imore] in time?
WW
1.
This postcard bears the address, "Pete Doyle, | M street South—bet 4½
& M. | Washington, D.C." It is postmarked: "Camden | Apr | 16 | N.J.;
Carrier | 17 | Apr | 8 (?) AM."
The correspondence (again chiefly postcards) with Doyle in April and May was
sent on Fridays, according to Whitman's habit. At this time Doyle was
working out of Baltimore; note Whitman's April 30,
1875, and June 25, 1875 letters to
Doyle. This postcard can be positively dated on the basis of Burroughs'
visit; see his letter to Dowden on May 4, 1875, quoted by Clara Barrus, Whitman and Burroughs—Comrades (Boston:
Houghton Mifflin, 1931), 94. [back]