See notes 12/26/88
loc_es.00518.jpg
Superintendent's Office.
ASYLUM FOR THE INSANE
LONDON.
ONTARIO
London,
Ont.,1
15 Dec 1888
I have been for several days in great anxiety about you,2
dear Walt, and am yet though your letter of 13th relieves
me a little for it shows me that (as you say) you can
write, and I was really afraid you could not3—The big book4 (4 copies) is on its way—I
expect to get it this afternoon—if not certainly monday monring—am going
to town myself in an hour to ask after the parcel, am very eager to have it. I am
very glad Ed.W.5 is with you these bad times instead of Musgrove6—I feel sure
Ed. will do Every thing in his power for you.
loc_es.00519.jpg I shall write a special letter as soon as
I get the big book. I wish we could hear from O'Connor7 I fear
he is in a bad way.
If the thing was possible I should go to Camden and stay with you—but it is not possible so no use talking of it. Perhaps I could do no good if I was
there certainly you have a better doctor by far than I am—I mean Osler.8 But it
seems to me they do not take the interest they ought.
We are all well here, cold weather but no sleighing yet.
I send my best love
R M Bucke
loc_es.00516.jpg
loc_es.00517.jpg
Correspondent:
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).
Notes
- 1. This letter is addressed:
Walt Whitman | 328 Mickle Street | Camden | New Jersey | U.S.A. It is
postmarked: London | PM | DE 15 | 88 | Canada; Camden N. J. | Dec | 17 | 6 AM |
1888 | Rec'd. [back]
- 2. Bucke's worries about
Whitman's declining health led him to send a request to Horace Traubel on
December 14, 1888, directing Traubel to contact him via telegram if Whitman's
death seemed imminent. [back]
- 3. Bucke is referring to
Whitman's letter of December 13, 1888, in which
Whitman reports having had "another bad spell" and suffering from "extreme
debility." [back]
- 4. Whitman wanted to publish a "big
book" that included all of his writings, and, with the help of Horace Traubel,
Whitman made the presswork and binding decisions for the volume. Frederick
Oldach bound Whitman's Complete Poems & Prose (1888),
which included a profile photo of the poet on the title page. The book was
published in December 1888. For more information on the book, see Ed Folsom, Whitman Making Books/Books Making Whitman: A Catalog and
Commentary (University of Iowa: Obermann Center for Advanced Studies, 2005). [back]
- 5. Edward "Ned" Wilkins
(1865–1936) was one of Whitman's nurses during his Camden years; he was
sent to Camden from London, Ontario, by Dr. Richard M. Bucke, and he began
caring for Whitman on November 5, 1888. He stayed for a year before returning to
Canada to attend the Ontario Veterinary School. Wilkins graduated on March 24,
1893, and then he returned to the United States to commence his practice in
Alexandria, Indiana. For more information, see Bert A. Thompson, "Edward
Wilkins: Male Nurse to Walt Whitman," Walt Whitman Review
15 (September 1969), 194–195. [back]
- 6. W. A. Musgrove replaced Dr.
Nathan M. Baker as Whitman's caregiver on July 15, 1888. Musgrove was far less
satisfactory than Baker. Traubel noted that "Musgrove is a cloudy man. I asked
how M. got on. W. evaded the question by some general remark. . . . He
[Musgrove] is only a nurse—not a doctor" (Horace Traubel, ed., With Walt Whitman in Camden, Monday, July 16, 1888). Yet, Whitman later described Musgrove as
"kind active & considerate all through" (See the letter from Whitman to
Bucke of November 3–4, 1888). [back]
- 7. William Douglas O'Connor
(1832–1889) was the author of the grand and grandiloquent Whitman pamphlet
The Good Gray Poet: A Vindication, published in 1866.
For more on Whitman's relationship with O'Connor, see Deshae E. Lott, "O'Connor, William Douglas (1832–1889)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 8. Sir William Osler (1849–1919)
was a Canadian physician and one of the four founding staff members of Johns
Hopkins Hospital, where he served as the first Chief of Medicine. Richard
Maurice Bucke introduced Osler to Whitman in 1885 in order to care for the aging
poet. Osler wrote a manuscript about his personal and professional relationship
with Whitman in 1919; see Philip W. Leon, Walt Whitman and Sir
William Osler: A Poet and His Physician [Toronto: ECW Press, 1995]).
For more on Osler, see Philip W. Leon, "Osler, Dr. William (1849–1919)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). For more on the relationship of Osler and
Whitman, see Michael Bliss, William Osler: A Life in
Medicine (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999). [back]