Camden
Friday Evn'g July 12 '89
Dear Lou
Your card rec'd to day—Nothing particular or very new with me—Hot and
oppressive here eight or nine days & I have been under the weather probably from
it as much as anything—Keep up ab't the same tho'—am taking a tonic dose
(iron & strychnia I fancy) prescribed by Dr Bucke1 to stave
off the terrible weakness & faintness—& it does so—but it costs
as much as it comes too—So far I eat & sleep pretty well, wh' of course is
the greatest help—Got a card f'm Hannah,2 & have
written to her this evn'g—I send my best love to Amy and Warren3—I wish I had something to send them—They are
getting printed in a little book the speeches4 &c at my birth-day dinner5 & I
will send you one when out—& one to Emma6
too—
I havn't been out this is the fourth day in the wheel chair7 but shall resume in a day
or two—I am sitting here in the old den in Mickle st second story near sunset
quite comfortable—
Walt Whitman
Correspondent:
Louisa Orr Haslam Whitman (1842–1892), called
"Loo" or "Lou," married Whitman's brother George Whitman on April 14, 1871. Their
son, Walter Orr Whitman, was born in 1875 but died the following year. A second
son was stillborn. Whitman lived in Camden, New Jersey, with George and Louisa from
1873 until 1884, when George and Louisa moved to a farm outside of Camden and
Whitman decided to stay in the city. Louisa and Whitman had a warm relationship
during the poet's final decades. For more, see Karen Wolfe, "Whitman, Louisa Orr Haslam (Mrs. George) (1842–1892)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and
Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998).
Notes
- 1. Richard Maurice Bucke (1837–1902) was a
Canadian physician and psychiatrist who grew close to Whitman after reading Leaves of Grass in 1867 (and later memorizing it) and
meeting the poet in Camden a decade later. Even before meeting Whitman, Bucke
claimed in 1872 that a reading of Leaves of Grass led him
to experience "cosmic consciousness" and an overwhelming sense of epiphany.
Bucke became the poet's first biographer with Walt
Whitman (Philadelphia: David McKay, 1883), and he later served as one
of his medical advisors and literary executors. For more on the relationship of
Bucke and Whitman, see Howard Nelson, "Bucke, Richard Maurice," Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 2. Hannah Louisa (Whitman) Heyde
(1823–1908), youngest sister of Walt Whitman, married Charles Louis Heyde
(ca. 1820–1892), a Pennsylvania-born landscape painter. Charles Heyde was
infamous among the Whitmans for his offensive letters and poor treatment of
Hannah. Hannah and Charles Heyde lived in Burlington, Vermont. For more, see
Paula K. Garrett, "Whitman (Heyde), Hannah Louisa (d. 1908)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 3. Amy and Warren Dowe were
the children of Emma Dowe, Louisa Whitman's sister (see Whitman's letter of July 12, 1877). [back]
- 4. The notes and addresses that
were delivered at Whitman's seventieth birthday celebration in Camden, on May
31, 1889, were collected and edited by Horace Traubel. The volume was titled Camden's Compliment to Walt Whitman, and it included a
photo of Sidney Morse's 1887 clay bust of Whitman as the frontispiece. The book
was published in 1889 by Philadelphia publisher David McKay. [back]
- 5. For Whitman's seventieth
birthday, Horace Traubel and a large committee planned a local celebration for
the poet in Morgan's Hall in Camden, New Jersey. The committee included Henry
(Harry) L. Bonsall, Geoffrey Buckwalter, and Thomas B. Harned. See Horace
Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Tuesday, May 7, 1889. The day was celebrated with a testimonial
dinner. Numerous authors and friends of the poet prepared and delivered
addresses to mark the occasion. Whitman, who did not feel well at the time,
arrived after the dinner to listen to the remarks. [back]
- 6. Emma Dowe was Louisa
(Mrs. George Washington) Whitman's sister. Her husband Francis E. Dowe operated
dry goods stores in Norwich, Connecticut, from 1872 to 1918. A copy of the
letter Whitman refers to was preserved by Mrs. Dowe's daughter Amy, who wrote "A
Child's Memories of the Whitmans." This reminiscence, composed in the 1930s, has
been published by Edwin Haviland Miller in "Amy H. Dowe and Walt Whitman," Walt Whitman Review, 13 (September 1967),
73–79. [back]
- 7. Horace Traubel and Ed
Wilkins, Whitman's nurse, went to Philadelphia to purchase a wheeled chair for
the poet that would allow him to be "pull'd or push'd" outdoors. See Whitman's
letter to William Sloane Kennedy of May 8,
1889. [back]