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Camden New Jersey U S America1
Aug: 12
Yr's recd2—thanks—it is delightful to hear f'm
you & thro' you f'm all—Probably it will be better to do up the twelve
books (perhaps others) in a parcel & send by express to 44 Grosvenor Road (as I
do not know they c'd go that way to H.3) The money
$58.80 has been sent me by ALS. Phila.4 Has been long
hot weather but to-day & yesterday fine & cool.—I am as well as usual
& writing a little—Best love to you & y'r dear father5 & M6 &
A.7 Write whenever you can
Walt Whitman
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Correspondent:
Logan Pearsall Smith
(1865–1946) was an essayist and literary critic. He was the son of Robert
Pearsall Smith, a minister and writer who befriended Whitman, and he was the
brother of Mary Whitall Smith Costelloe, one of Whitman's most avid followers.
For more information on Logan, see Christina Davey, "Smith, Logan Pearsall (1865–1946)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998).
Notes
- 1. This postal card is
addressed: Logan Smith | Friday's Hill | Haslemere Surrey | England. It is
postmarked: Camden, [unclear] | Aug 12 |
8PM | 90. [back]
- 2. The letter Whitman is
responding to is not extant. [back]
- 3. Smith confirmed that he had
the books at Haslemere in his letter of October 3,
1890. [back]
- 4. Robert Pearsall Smith
sent the money to Whitman through A.L. Smith of Philadelphia (Whitman's
Commonplace Book, Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman,
1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.). [back]
- 5. Robert Pearsall Smith
(1827–1898) was a Quaker who became an evangelical minister associated
with the "Holiness movement." He was also a writer and businessman. Whitman
often stayed at his Philadelphia home, where the poet became friendly with the
Smith children—Mary, Logan, and Alys. For more information about Smith,
see Christina Davey, "Smith, Robert Pearsall (1827–1898)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 6. Mary Whitall Smith Costelloe
(1864–1945) was a political activist, art historian, and critic, whom
Whitman once called his "staunchest living woman friend." A scholar of Italian
Renaissance art and a daughter of Robert Pearsall Smith, she would in 1885 marry
B. F. C. "Frank" Costelloe. She had been in contact with many of Whitman's
English friends and would travel to Britain in 1885 to visit many of them,
including Anne Gilchrist shortly before her death. For more, see Christina
Davey, "Costelloe, Mary Whitall Smith (1864–1945)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D.
Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 7. Alyssa ("Alys") Whitall Pearsall
Smith (1867–1951) was born in Philadelphia and became a Quaker relief
organizer. She attended Bryn Mawr College and was a graduate of the class of
1890. She and her family lived in Britain for two years during her childhood and
again beginning in 1888. She married the philosopher Bertrand Russell in 1894;
the couple later separated, and they divorced in 1921. Smith also served as the
chair of a society committee that set up the "Mothers and Babies Welcome" (the
St Pancras School for Mothers) in London in 1907; this health center, dedicated
to reducing the infant mortality rate, provided a range of medical and
educational services for women. Smith was the daughter of Robert Pearsall and
Hannah Whitall Smith, and she was the sister of Mary Whitall Smith
(1864–1945), the political activist, art historian, and critic, whom
Whitman once called his "staunchest living woman friend." [back]