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Ye Painte Shoppe,
1833 Spruce Street
Philadelphia
My Dear Mr. Whitman,
My small colored boy is the bearer of a note to Mr. Rhys,1
asking him to dine with us at 6.15 this evening, going afterward with me to the
Thomas Concert2 for which I have tickets.
If Mr. Rhys is not in when the boy reaches your house, will you kindly
loc_vm.01359.jpg send me word by the
boy, as to the probabilities of his being able to come, as you may perchance know
his engagements. If he is at any place near, will you send the boy to him with his
note please. I am sorry to trouble you, but shall be very greatly obliged.
I hope this cold weather is treating you more kindly than the last.
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Very Cordially
Sophia Wells Royce Williams
February 16, 1888—
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Correspondent:
Sophia Wells Royce Williams
(1850–1928) was a writer and frequent visitor (with her husband Talcott
Williams) to Whitman's Camden, New Jersey, home.
Notes
- 1. Ernest Percival Rhys
(1859–1946) was a British author and editor; he founded the Everyman's
Library series of inexpensive reprintings of popular works. He included a volume
of Whitman's poems in the Canterbury Poets series and two volumes of Whitman's
prose in the Camelot series for Walter Scott publishers. For more information
about Rhys, see Joel Myerson, "Rhys, Ernest Percival (1859–1946)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 2. The Theodore Thomas
Orchestra, a popular touring ensemble conducted by the renowned conductor
Theodore Thomas (1835–1905), played a concert in Philadelphia on February
16, 1888, performing Anton Rubenstein's Second Cello Concerto and the Fourth
Symphony of Brahms (see the Philadelphia Times [February
16, 1888], 2). [back]