We have just had a visit from Dr. Bucke,2 and we were so glad to hear from him all
about you. In furnishing our house here we have got three of those N.Y. photographs of you framed
together, hanging in our
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dining room, and it almost feels as if you were with us sometimes. It is delightful to see Dr. Bucke
again, he is so fresh and original and individual in everything he says and does. I am taking this
summer as a rest, I have finished my work at Oxford, and in the autumn I shall begin
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writing—I feel that there is a great deal to be said about America, about England and Oxford and
many things.
The Costelloes3 are abroad now—Mrs. Costelloe has got tremendously interested
in art—especially Italian art, and means to make
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art criticsm her life work. There is a new school of art critics, who follow an Italian, Morelli,4 and
judge pictures, not so much by the documents about them, as by the technique of the painter. It is most
interesting, and there is a great deal of work to be done in it.
We are all well, and send much love
your affectionate friend Logan Pearsall SmithCorrespondent:
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).