Your card of 18th2 reached me at
4 this P.M. The "Liberty" with Horace's3 O'C.4 piece5 came at 10 this morning—they are both
welcome—With us too it is getting like fall—a fire has looked and felt
comfortable the last 3 days. No word lately from Willy Gurd,6 do
not look for him here for some weeks yet. My annual report is on again, shall make it short this year (between you & me—I am
not saying any thing about this but thinking of it a good
deal—I rather hope this may be my last—if we are not entirely deceived
about the meter I shall have other—pleasanter and more profitable—work
to do in the immediate future). I note what you say about not feeling very well,7 I loc_es.00636.jpg fear you do not—still, on the whole, you are sticking it
out well and have even gained quite a bit in the last 9 months—I have great
hopes that you may have some comfort in your life yet—and beyond—beyond?
yes, we shall have good times yet—the old times were good but the new times
shall be better.
I wish I could see you—hope I shall before a very great while—meantime that last photo'8 is almost equal to the real article itself
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).