Han recd your card; was much concerned to learn that you had a fall: Weather is very
warm here, but fine cool nights: mornings allmost frosty. The grandest genuine
summer I ever knew. Mountains allways visible, asserting their supremacy. Vivid
lightnings and startling thunder, with heavy showers. A big tornado passed, or
crashed over the city, tearing a large luxuriant tree duk.00405.002_large.jpg that grew by the gate, by the
roots, as if it had been a bramble, and twisting a large to pieces, that grew at the
corner of the house, dividing the branches literaly , without knocking down the
chimney nor even splintering a picket. How it razed and thrashed the slate roof; several houses were
unroofed: the worst gale I ever saw: Han was much frightend : she is improving
steadily, though weak: allright. She thinks if she could see you: talks of you great
deal. I've not heard of the picture yet sent to George—
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).