Matters hold their own mainly—I have had a bad whack—confined in this room & bed now the fifth week—& am poorly yet—but I may (probably will to extent) rally—Spirits fair—work power nil—Seize a twenty minutes soon & write me ab't yourself2
Walt WCorrespondent:
William Douglas O'Connor
(1832–1889) was the author of the grand and grandiloquent Whitman pamphlet
The Good Gray Poet: A Vindication, published in 1866.
For more on Whitman's relationship with O'Connor, see Deshae E. Lott, "O'Connor, William Douglas (1832–1889)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998).