forward all this budget1—keep together in envelope (A to
L inclusive) after reading digesting &c. (no hurry
however) to Dr Bucke
Asylum
London Ontario Canada
—who will be expecting
them—2
Notes
- 1. This letter is endorsed:
"Forward all this budget 'A to L inclusive' to Dr. Bucke." It is addressed: Wm D
O'Connor | Life Saving Service | Bureau | Washington D C. It is postmarked:
Camden | May | 3 | 12 M | N.J.; Washington, D. C. | May | 4 | 4 AM | 1882 |
Recd. [back]
- 2. It is unfortunate that
Whitman's correspondence with Richard Maurice Bucke at this time is lost, for it
would presumably reveal that after the poet informed Bucke of Osgood's decision
on April 19, the latter suggested that O'Connor be enlisted to reply to the
charges of obscenity. Since the poet and O'Connor had been estranged for ten
years, Bucke undoubtedly wrote to O'Connor to obtain his consent. Probably
Whitman discussed the matter frankly in a "long letter" to Bucke on April 27
(Whitman's Commonplace Book, Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of
Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.). At any
rate their correspondence resumed without mention of their misunderstanding.
Jottings in Whitman's Commonplace Book suggest that Whitman had attempted to
heal the wounds for many years. He sent to O'Connor the following books and
articles: Memoranda During the War in April, 1876; the
Centennial Edition in March, 1879; his Emerson article in The
Literary World in May, 1880; "Poetry of the Future" in December, 1880;
The Progress of April 30, 1881; The
Critic of May 9, 1881; the New York Tribune of
August 4, 1881; and the Osgood edition on December 25, 1881. [back]