Our noble good brother Walt Your generous gift of 10 dollars, (divided) was duly recd—Gratefull for my share, which added to 10 I received for a painting, enabled me to pay my interest, now overdue to the Winooski Bank—Have also recd a box from Lou,1 but very little money—yet it contained a fine sugar cured ham, corked coffee, tea, and wearing apparel for herself—
We have kind contributions occasionally of necessaries for home consumptions—[illegible]ing good will—Han2—Shall write—
Charlie3 loc_ad.00116_large.jpg Dec 26 '90 Camden This is the only decent (or nearly decent) letter f'm the whelp I have rec'd for two years—(but there is a mean sneer & snarl even in this)Correspondent:
Charles Louis Heyde (ca.
1820–1892), a French-born landscape painter, married Hannah Louisa Whitman
(1823–1908), Walt Whitman's sister, and they lived in Burlington, Vermont.
Charles Heyde was infamous among the Whitmans for his offensive letters and poor
treatment of Hannah. For more information about Heyde, see Steven Schroeder,
"Heyde, Charles Louis (1822–1892)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998).