Yours of 213 containing Mrs O'Connor's4
letter this moment to hand (noon Monday). O'C.5 has wonderful
grit and will make a hard fight yet—We will
continue to wish him God speed and ourselves hope for the best. Poor Mrs O'C. too,
what noble courage and determination she has! She is as grand as he is, as grand as
any.6 Wm Gurd7 is here, arrived yesterday without letter or warning, just
walked in. All seems to be going on as it should with the meter but slow,
slow,—We propose now to make it safe in Canada and western Europe and loc_es.00545.jpg then proceed to
Philadelphia to lay it before experts and capitalists—perhaps establish a Co.
to manufacture. I cannot tell how long it may take us yet to get to Phila but I think we ought to be there in the course of
January. I trust to find you in good shape then. Nesbit8 (the other partner) will
likely to be here very soon after Xmas we shall then settle on our immediate
course
A lovely bright warm day. Would rather however have snow, sleighing and cold at Xmas time
A good Xmas and Love to you R M BuckeCorrespondent:
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).
Letters for December 24 and 26, 1888, are currently missing. From the surviving evidence it is possible to reconstruct the general nature of these letters.
On December 27, 1888, Whitman wrote Bucke: "have rec'd yours of 24th, & note carefully what you say of food, alcohol, &c, and of the effete wretchedness—all thoroughly judged & true, & shall charge myself practically with it—certainly so—& glad to get it."
The extant Bucke letter to Whitman of December 24 contains no mention of diet. It would appear that Bucke wrote two letters to Whitman that day—something which he did on occasion (e.g. November 28, 1888, and later that same evening). On December 29, 1888, Bucke wrote Traubel: "I have urged the warm bath, medicine, moderate diet (almost starvation diet is safest for him) he has answered my letter and says he will attend to what I say" (Feinberg). Bucke is referring to the letter Whitman wrote on December 27, 1888. Some further evidence of the content of this letter is provided by Traubel:
"Among the letters W. gave me yesterday [December 27, 1888] was one from Bucke very specific about W.'s diet. W. said to-night: 'It is—yes it is—a very good letter: I am conscious it should be obeyed. I know no one better able to say these things than Bucke.' Bucke had advised that the letter be shown to Walsh, who could give more direct instructions. W. has not done this: it is doubtful if he will, though he may" (Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Friday, December 28, 1888).
It is more difficult to reconstruct the nature of Bucke's letter to Whitman of December 26, 1888.
On December 29, 1888, Whitman wrote Bucke: "y'rs of 26th came last evn'g—Yes, I shall mind—think I understand & accept the matter below it, & shall practically put it in action."
[Lozynsky goes on to argue that] Bucke's letter of December 26 was a follow-up to his letter of the 24th concerning diet. In his December 29 letter, Whitman may be reassuring Bucke that he intends to keep the promise made in his letter of the 27th. The fact that both these letters are missing suggests a link between them. They were put aside either for consultation about specific details or, as Traubel mentions, for presentation to Dr. Walsh. [Note copied from Artem Lozynsky, ed., The Letters of Dr. Richard Maurice Bucke to Walt Whitman (Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, 1977), 98–99.]
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