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Letter from Walt Whitman to Ida Johnston, 14 June [1877]

Dear friend

I am afraid to venture out much in the heat of the day (as part of my trouble of the head is sun affection, & susceptibility)—so I give up the Congress visit to-day.

We will see about it, either next Wednesday, or indeed most any other (cloudy) day—as I want to go aboard—& you shall go, if you wish to. Love to mother, father & Jack.3

Walt Whitman

Notes

  • 1. This letter bears the address: Miss Ida Johnston | 434 Penn street | near 5th | Camden. [back]
  • 2. Ida was the daughter of Colonel John R. Johnston, the artist, whose home Walt Whitman visited almost every Sunday evening. See the letter from Whitman to John Flood of November 22, 1868. The year is conjectural, although entries in The Commonplace Book warrant the elimination of the next five years (Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.). [back]
  • 3. Her brother, John Jr. See the letter from Whitman to John Johnston of June 20, 1877. [back]
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