328 Mickle Street
Camden New Jersey1
Jan: 25 '87—noon
My dear friend Arthur
The box (Oranges) has just come, (the letter came two hours ago) & I hasten to
acknowledge them, without opening the box, but I thank you heartily & know I
shall enjoy the fruit. I am here not much different from usual late years, but
older, more broken & paralyzed—I have a little old cottage of my own in
which I live, & have a good young woman, a widow, for cook &
housekeeper2—I am fearfully disabled, yet retain good spirits—have just
been out for a drive—Often think of Helen (dear Helen)3 and you & all—Is this letter address'd
right?—I should occasionally send H. a letter or paper, but am doubtful ab't
the address—
Walt Whitman
Correspondent:
Abby Price's son, Arthur, joined
the navy and became second assistant engineer on the steamer "Ossipee"; see Walt
Whitman's address book (The Library of Congress #109). Whitman wrote about a
visit from Arthur Price in his January 1, 1872,
letter to Louisa Van Velsor Whitman.
Notes
- 1. This letter is addressed:
Arthur Price | Woodside | Queens County | New Yo[rk]. It is postmarked: Camden |
(?) | 25 | 6 PM | 1887 | N.J.; New York | Jan 26 | 1 AM | 87 | Transit. [back]
- 2. Mary Oakes Davis (1837 or
1838–1908) was Whitman's housekeeper. For more, see Carol J. Singley,
"Davis, Mary Oakes (1837 or 1838–1908)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 3. Helen Price was the daughter
of Abby H. Price (1814–1878) and Edmund Price. During the late 1850s and
throughout the 1860s, Abby and Helen were friends with Whitman and his mother,
and the Price family began to save Walt's letters. Helen's reminiscences of
Whitman were included in Richard Maurice Bucke's 1883 biography of Whitman. For
more on Helen Price, see Sherry Ceniza "Price, Helen E. (b. 1841)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and
Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). For more on Abby Price,
see Sherry Ceniza "Price, Abby Hills (1814–1878)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]