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Camden1 March 22—
noon
Dear friend
The old story—nothing very new or different with me—Still jog along here
as before—have been half sick a great part of this winter—yet every
thing goes on comfortably with me—I am sitting here by the window down stairs,
in my big chair, writing this—(the sun shining outside, & my little canary
singing furiously in his cage in the corner)—I have occasional
visitors—Wm Duckett3 is here yet—I don't get
out much, the roads are so bad. Come up & see us & spend the day.
George4 stop when you come up. Susan I enclose a letter
Herbert5 sent me some months ago—nothing
particular—Ed6 I still wish to sell my mare
W W
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Correspondent:
Susan M. Lamb Stafford
(1833–1910) was the mother of Harry Stafford (1858–1918), who, in
1876, became a close friend of Whitman while working at the printing office of
the Camden New Republic. Whitman regularly visited the
Staffords at their family farm near Kirkwood, New Jersey. Whitman enjoyed the
atmosphere and tranquility that the farm provided and would often stay for weeks
at a time (see David G. Miller, "Stafford, George and Susan M.," Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings [New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998], 685).
Notes
- 1. This letter is addressed:
Mrs: Susan Stafford | Kirkwood | (Glendale) | New Jersey. It is postmarked:
Camden | Mar | 2
| 8 PM | 188[illegible] | N.J. [back]
- 2. The year of 1887 appears
to be a plausible date. In his Commonplace Book (Charles E. Feinberg Collection
of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington,
D.C.) on February 25 Whitman wrote: "Half sick (or more than half) most of this
month." However, he sold his nag and bought a mare from Edwin Stafford in March
1886 (see the letter from Whitman to John Burroughs of March 18, 1886); it is perhaps strange that he considered selling the
mare a year later. The whereabouts of Duckett is not easy to trace since he held
and gave up jobs frequently. On March 1, 1887, Whitman noted in his Commonplace
Book: "W D still at Sewell practising." [back]
- 3. William H. Duckett
(1869–1902?) was Whitman's young Camden friend, who drove the poet's horse
and buggy, lived for a while in Whitman's house, and accompanied Whitman on
numerous trips. Duckett later established a career in the telegraphy industry;
he lived and worked in Ohio and North Carolina before passing away in his native
Philadelphia as a result of alcoholism in about 1902. For more information on
Duckett, see Stephanie M. Blalock and Brandon James O'Neil, "'I am more
interested than you know, Bill,': The Life and Times of William Henry
Duckett, Jr.," Walt Whitman Quarterly Review
39.2-3 (2022), 89–117. [back]
- 4. George Stafford (1827–1892)
was Susan's husband. [back]
- 5. Herbert Harlakenden Gilchrist
(1857–1914), son of Alexander and Anne Gilchrist, was an English painter
and editor of Anne Gilchrist: Her Life and Writings
(London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1887). For more information, see Marion Walker Alcaro,
"Gilchrist, Herbert Harlakenden (1857–1914)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D.
Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 6. Edwin Stafford (1856–1906) was one of Susan
Stafford's sons. [back]