[cut-away] From time
[cut-away] of your
[cut-away] health
[cut-away] I will
[cut-away] surety
[cut-away] to my
[cut-away] Charles Hine1)
[cut-away]til form
[cut-away] how he
[cut-away] happy by
[cut-away] I read
[cut-away] to read
[cut-away] to write—a line to friends, if not asking too much. May I ask you for a line Lucy2 who you fondled on your knee is now married & a family of three children now over 30 years old.
With love & sympathy from us both with your sympathizingly Mrs Chas Hine Box 12 E Mrs Charles Hine Flatbbush L ICorrespondent:
Caroline Hine was the widow of
the artist Charles Hine, who had died on July 31, 1871, only days after a visit
by Whitman. After Charles's death, Caroline Hine continued to correspond with
Whitman. In her August 4, 1871, letter to Whitman,
for example, she explained that she would have difficulty caring for three
children because her financial means have been exhausted by her husband's
illness and death. She also visited Whitman's mother, Louisa Van Velsor Whitman
(1795–1873).