Han1 is improving although very nervous: I suggested a
dress: common, cheap calico one ready made which cannot be procured here: She has
two or three cut: one late last spring: others years ago: She is unfortunate,
proceeds so far with one, then
puts it aside: no service
to her now—She managed to wash an
old one a few days ago: put it on: She has a craze for painting old woollen table
covers, for effect in
her small parlor: procured duk.00397.002_large.jpgsome vermillion for her and gave her a brush: mixed the paint: she
covered her arms and hands with it: body of her dress, and some on the skirt:
daubs chair backs,
and things generaly: I must humor her:
her mind must have occupation: I put down her winter carpet on Sun. She is much
pleased: retoned her
oil cloth: shall black and put up her stove: then I shall run two coal fires
constantly. Weather pleasant at times—then furious, blustering—freezing
hard.
Correspondent:
Charles Louis Heyde (ca.
1820–1892), a French-born landscape painter, married Hannah Louisa Whitman
(1823–1908), Walt Whitman's sister, and they lived in Burlington, Vermont.
Charles Heyde was infamous among the Whitmans for his offensive letters and poor
treatment of Hannah. For more information about Heyde, see Steven Schroeder,
"Heyde, Charles Louis (1822–1892)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998).