Still keeps lovely weather here—in fact more and more pleasant if possible. I go this afternoon to Sarnia to attend (tomorrow morning) the wedding of Miss Pardee2 & Fred. Kittermaster3—the latter a nephew of Mrs. Buckes'.4 I shall return here noon friday & probably write you that evening. Everything quiet here including the meter5 but we expect to be ready to make another step in the matter next week. I do not hear from Gilchrist6—what loc_es.00357.jpg is he doing? I suppose you see a good deal of him?
Always affectionately yours RM Bucke loc_es.00354.jpg See notes Sept 14, 1888 loc_es.00355.jpgCorrespondent:
Richard Maurice Bucke (1837–1902) was a
Canadian physician and psychiatrist who grew close to Whitman after reading Leaves of Grass in 1867 (and later memorizing it) and
meeting the poet in Camden a decade later. Even before meeting Whitman, Bucke
claimed in 1872 that a reading of Leaves of Grass led him
to experience "cosmic consciousness" and an overwhelming sense of epiphany.
Bucke became the poet's first biographer with Walt
Whitman (Philadelphia: David McKay, 1883), and he later served as one
of his medical advisors and literary executors. For more on the relationship of
Bucke and Whitman, see Howard Nelson, "Bucke, Richard Maurice," Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998).