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Walt Whitman to Thomas Nicholson, 19 June 1881

Dear Tom

I am still here & am well as usual—have just returned from some twelve days down in the Jersey woods1 where I like to go this time of year (I believe I have told you about it)—Plenty of woods here in Jersey & plenty of sea-shore—& I like them both—& get a good deal of comfort out of them both—Things are going on pretty much the same with me as when I last wrote—that was an awful affair on the river, & I tell you I looked over the lists of names the next two or three days with fear & trembling—I dont seem to remember Wm Hardy you mention—but I dare say I knew him among the men, poor fellow—

It is now late Sunday afternoon, been a very hot day here, & there is just now a lively little thunderstorm coming on, (& over almost as soon as on)—I must finish my letter quickly, for I must go the P.O. here as it shuts at 6 Sundays—Tommy, dear boy, this is only an apology for a letter but it will show that I bear you in mind & all the rest too—I shall be on there at the Asylum this summer—not perhaps for a long visit, but for two or three weeks2—I am having some work to do this summer at writing—I rec'd​ the paper—good luck to you if you run on the 28th—Tom, I must end—love to you & the same to all the boys—& girls too—

Walt Whitman

Notes

  • 1. Whitman was at the Staffords' only from June 11 to 15 (Whitman's Commonplace Book, Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.). He spent twelve days in Glendale in May. [back]
  • 2. Whitman was too occupied with printing the Osgood edition to make the trip, but he met Nicholson and Dr. Richard Maurice Bucke in Jersey City, N.J., on July 23 (Whitman's Commonplace Book). [back]
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