I have had such joy this morning, my Darling—Poems of yours given in the "Daily
News" sublime Poems (one of them reaching dizzy heights) filling my soul with strong
delight. These prefaced by a few words timid enough yet kindly in tone, & better
than nothing.—The days, the weeks are slipping by my Beloved, bearing me swiftly
surely to you1—before the beauty of the year begins to fade
we shall come. The young folk too are full of bright anticipation & eagerness now,
I am thankful to say; and Per 2 getting
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on with I trust such near & definite prospect of his happiness that he will be
able to pull along cheerily towards it after we are gone in spite of loneliness.
I expect Darling we must go to some little town or village ten or twenty miles short
of Philadelphia till the tremendous influx of visitors to the Centennial3
has ceased, else we shall not be able to find a corner there.—By the bye I feel
a little sulky at your always taking a fling at the poor Piano. I see
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I have got to try & show you it too is capable of waking deep chords in the human
soul when it is the vehicle of a great Master's thought & emotions—if only my
poor fingers prove equal to the task! All my heart shall go into them—Take from my
picture a long long look of tender love and joy and faith, deathless ever young, ever
growing, ever learning aspiring love, tender cherishing, domestic love.
Oh may I be full of
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sweet comfort for my Beloved's Soul and Body through life, through and after death.
Correspondent:
Anne Burrows Gilchrist
(1828–1885) was the author of one of the first significant pieces of
criticism on Leaves of Grass, titled "A Woman's Estimate
of Walt Whitman (From Late Letters by an English Lady to W. M. Rossetti)," The Radical 7 (May 1870), 345–59. Gilchrist's long
correspondence with Whitman indicates that she had fallen in love with the poet
after reading his work; when the pair met in 1876 when she moved to
Philadelphia, Whitman never fully returned her affection, although their
friendship deepened after that meeting. For more information on their
relationship, see Marion Walker Alcaro, "Gilchrist, Anne Burrows (1828–1885)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998).