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Camden NJ US America1
July 23 '87
Y'rs of July 8 (?)2 rec'd—with A's3 note on fourth page. All goes safely with me so far
thro' the long fearfully hot spell here —It is clouded over a little to
day—, —some relief—I have no news to write you ab't my affairs or
self. I sit in the big chair by the open window as I write this—"the same
subject continued"—Best prayers & love to you all, Mary4, Alys & little
R
Walt Whitman
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Correspondent:
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).
Notes
- 1. This postal card is
addressed: Pearsall Smith | 40 Grosvenor Road | the Embankment | London England
| S W. It is postmarked: Camden, N.J. | Jul 24 | 5 PM | 87. [back]
- 2. The question mark is
Whitman's. There is no extant letter from Smith at this time. [back]
- 3. Alys Smith
(1867–1951) was a daughter of Robert Pearsall Smith and the sister of Mary
Whitall Smith Costelloe. She eventually married the philosopher Bertrand
Russell. [back]
- 4. 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]