Camden
PM Dec: 9 '881
Have had a bad week, but am now much better—over it
for this time, indeed—'Twas added to other things
(as I believe I told you) a bladder &c. trouble—& giving
for a while more annoyance & pain than any thing—The two doctors have just been.
Love to you and Nelly2—write, one of you, very soon—The Sunday Tribune, (N Y. to-day) has a
short notice3—
Walt Whitman
am now sitting alone in my big chair by the oak wood fire—comfortable—
Correspondent:
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).
Notes
- 1. This letter is endorsed:
"Answ'd Dec. 10/88." It is addressed: Wm D O'Connor | 1015 O Street | Washington
D.C. It is postmarked: Camden, N.J. | Dec 9 | 5 PM | (?). [back]
- 2. Ellen M. "Nelly" O'Connor (1830–1913) was the
wife of William D. O'Connor (1832–1889), one of Whitman's staunchest
defenders. Before marrying William, Ellen Tarr was active in the antislavery and
women's rights movements as a contributor to the Liberator and to a women's rights newspaper Una. Whitman dined with the O'Connors frequently during his Washington
years. Though Whitman and William O'Connor would temporarily break off their
friendship in late 1872 over Reconstruction policies with regard to emancipated
African Americans, Ellen would remain friendly with Whitman. The correspondence
between Whitman and Ellen is almost as voluminous as the poet's correspondence
with William. Three years after William O'Connor's death, Ellen married the
Providence businessman Albert Calder. For more on Whitman's relationship with the O'Connors, see Dashae
E. Lott, "O'Connor, William Douglas [1832–1889]" and Lott's "O'Connor (Calder),
Ellen ('Nelly') M. Tarr (1830–1913)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 3. A review of November Boughs(1888) appeared in
the Tribune on December 9, 1888. [back]