Camden1
just p m Nov: 12 '89
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Bright sunny day—y'rs came last evn'g2—expect Mrs. O'C3
now, en route for Wash'n—Shall try to get out in wheel chair4 a little
to-day—nothing very different in my affairs or condition—pretty dull &
heavy as I sit here mostly alone (left to latent resources, but somehow get
along)
Evn'g—Had a good hearty massage5 at 1 & went in wheel chair
soon after 2—quite a jaunt—went to the bank—went down to the river
side—sun, river & sky fine—sat 15 minutes in the Nov. sun—find my head
& bodily strength pretty low yet (no improvement)—I like my sailor boy
nurse6—I cannot move without his help—my grub to-day rice-and-mutton
broth, bread, and stew'd prunes—appetite fair—feeling pretty fair as I sit
here just after 6—(it is dark here now by 5)—bowel action not bad—this
head botheration (heaviness, stiffness, half ache) unintermitted—at
times quite bad—but consider myself blessed to have it all as well as I do—You
fellows in the Asylum must have gay times—God bless you all—
Walt Whitman
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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:
Dr Bucke | Asylum | London | Ontario | Canada. It is postmarked: CAMDEN, N.J. |
NOV 12 | 8 PM | 89; [illegible]; 1; 1;
LONDON | [illegible]M | NO 14 | 89 |
CANADA; PHILADELPHIA PA | NOV | 12 | 9 PM | 1889 | TRANSIT. [back]
- 2. It is uncertain which letter
Whitman is referring to here. [back]
- 3. Ellen M. "Nelly" O'Connor (1830–1913) was the
wife of William D. O'Connor (1832–1889), one of Whitman's staunchest
defenders. Before marrying William, Ellen Tarr was active in the antislavery and
women's rights movements as a contributor to the Liberator and to a women's rights newspaper Una. Whitman dined with the O'Connors frequently during his Washington
years. Though Whitman and William O'Connor would temporarily break off their
friendship in late 1872 over Reconstruction policies with regard to emancipated
African Americans, Ellen would remain friendly with Whitman. The correspondence
between Whitman and Ellen is almost as voluminous as the poet's correspondence
with William. Three years after William O'Connor's death, Ellen married the
Providence businessman Albert Calder. For more on Whitman's relationship with the O'Connors, see Dashae
E. Lott, "O'Connor, William Douglas [1832–1889]" and Lott's "O'Connor (Calder),
Ellen ('Nelly') M. Tarr (1830–1913)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 4. Horace Traubel and Ed
Wilkins, Whitman's nurse, went to Philadelphia to purchase a wheeled chair for
the poet that would allow him to be "pull'd or push'd" outdoors. See Whitman's
letter to William Sloane Kennedy of May 8,
1889. [back]
- 5. Whitman's nurse at the time,
Warren Fritizinger, regularly gave the poet massages. [back]
- 6. Frank Warren Fritzinger
(1867–1899), known as "Warry," took Edward Wilkins's place as Whitman's
nurse, beginning in October 1889. Fritzinger and his brother Harry were the sons
of Henry Whireman Fritzinger (about 1828–1881), a former sea captain who
went blind, and Almira E. Fritzinger. Following Henry Sr.'s death, Warren and
his brother—having lost both parents—became wards of Mary O. Davis,
Whitman's housekeeper, who had also taken care of the sea captain and who
inherited part of his estate. A picture of Warry is displayed in the May 1891
New England Magazine (278). See Joann P. Krieg, "Fritzinger, Frederick Warren (1866–1899),"
Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and
Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998), 240. [back]