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Camden N J—U S America1
July 10 PM '91
Feeling pretty easy for me, cool sunny splendid weather to-day—bowel operations the last ten days better than a long,
long time—but lassitude & head ache continue—Dr L[ongaker]2 comes ab't every three days—O'D[onovan]3
the sculptor comes daily—R Moore4 and Reinhalter5 the tomb builder here to-day—I paid
R. $1000 more (making 1500 altogether so far6—the bill for tomb is 4000)—I do not complain—may send
you a pict there—possibly not ready tho—rec'd yours f'm Britannic7 am
July 88—Ingersoll9 is off west—Horace10 is
flourishing—expect to ride out with him & Annie11 to-morrow—Warry12 had
a good trip to N Y—got back that
evn'g to give me my massage13—every thing goes on boiling & bubbling here in U. S.—Pres't Harrison14 retreated
to sea side Cape May15 for seven or eight weeks (what a wise move!) & the hot season is
sliding away—specially prosperous agriculture & crop season all over U S—solid basis for all.
Best regards to the Costelloes16 & Smiths17—
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 | care Mr Costelloe | 44 Grosvenor road | the Embankment | London |
England. It is postmarked: Camden (?) | July 10 | 8 PM | 91. [back]
- 2. Daniel Longaker
(1858–1949) was a Philadelphia physician who specialized in obstetrics. He
became Whitman's doctor in early 1891 and provided treatment during the poet's
final illness. For more information, see Carol J. Singley, "Longaker, Dr. Daniel [1858–1949]," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R.LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 3. William Rudolph O'Donovan
(1844–1920) was an American sculptor. He was an associate of American
artist Thomas Eakins and accompanied Eakins to Whitman's Camden home and
fashioned a large bust of Whitman. Whitman liked O'Donovan but did not care for
the bust, which he found "too hunched" and the head "too broad" (Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in
Camden, Wednesday, July 15, 1891). [back]
- 4. Ralph Moore was the
superintendent of Harleigh Cemetery, where Whitman had had his marble tomb
built. [back]
- 5. P. Reinhalter & Co. of
Philadelphia built Whitman's tomb—an elaborate granite tomb of the poet's
design— in Harleigh Cemetery in Camden, New Jersey. The tomb cost
$4,000. Whitman covered a portion of these costs with money that his Boston
friends had raised so that the poet could purchase a summer cottage; the
remaining balance was paid by Whitman's literary executor, Thomas Harned. For
more information on the cemetery and Whitman's tomb, see See Geoffrey M. Still,
"Harleigh Cemetery," Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 6. The receipt from P.
Reinhalter & Company read: "Received from Walt Whitman tenth of July, 1891
One thousand dollars cash, for the tomb in Harleigh Cemetery—making,
including the sum of five hundred dollars (paid May 12 last) altogether to date
the sum of fifteen hundred dollars which is hereby receipted"; see the Detroit
Public Library's publication, An Exhibition of the Works of
Walt Whitman, (Detroit: February and March 1955), 41. [back]
- 7. At this time, the Canadian
physician Richard Maurice Bucke was traveling abroad in England in an attempt to
establish a foreign market for the gas and fluid meter he was developing with
his brother-in-law William Gurd. [back]
- 8. See Bucke's letter to
Whitman of July 8, 1891. [back]
- 9. Robert "Bob" Green Ingersoll
(1833–1899) was a Civil War veteran and an orator of the post-Civil War
era, known for his support of agnosticism. Ingersoll was a friend of Whitman,
who considered Ingersoll the greatest orator of his time. Whitman said to Horace
Traubel, "It should not be surprising that I am drawn to Ingersoll, for he is
Leaves of Grass. He lives, embodies, the
individuality I preach. I see in Bob the noblest
specimen—American-flavored—pure out of the soil, spreading, giving,
demanding light" (Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden,
Wednesday, March 25, 1891). The feeling was mutual. Upon Whitman's
death in 1892, Ingersoll delivered the eulogy at the poet's funeral. The eulogy
was published to great acclaim and is considered a classic panegyric (see
Phyllis Theroux, The Book of Eulogies [New York: Simon
& Schuster, 1997], 30). [back]
- 10. Horace L. Traubel (1858–1919)
was an American essayist, poet, and magazine publisher. He is best remembered as
the literary executor, biographer, and self-fashioned "spirit child" of Walt
Whitman. During the late 1880s and until Whitman's death in 1892, Traubel visited
the poet virtually every day and took thorough notes of their conversations,
which he later transcribed and published in three large volumes entitled With Walt Whitman in Camden (1906, 1908, & 1914).
After his death, Traubel left behind enough manuscripts for six more volumes of
the series, the final two of which were published in 1996. For more on Traubel,
see Ed Folsom, "Traubel, Horace L. [1858–1919]," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 11. Anne Montgomerie
(1864–1954) married Horace Traubel in Whitman's Mickle Street house in
Camden, New Jersey, in 1891. They had one daughter, Gertrude (1892–1983),
and one son, Wallace (1893–1898). Anne was unimpressed with Whitman's work
when she first read it, but later became enraptured by what she called its
"pulsating, illumined life," and she joined Horace as associate editor of his
Whitman-inspired periodical The Conservator. Anne edited
a small collection of Whitman's writings, A Little Book of
Nature Thoughts (Portland, Maine: Thomas B. Mosher, 1896). After
Horace's death, both Anne and Gertrude edited his manuscripts of his
conversations with Whitman during the final four years of the poet's life, which
eventually became the nine-volume With Walt Whitman in
Camden. [back]
- 12. 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]
- 13. Whitman's nurse at the time,
Warren Fritizinger, regularly gave the poet massages. [back]
- 14. Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901)
was the twenty-third U.S. president and grandson of the ninth president, William
Henry Harrison. Harrison was the Republican nominee who defeated Democratic
incumbent Grover Cleveland in 1888. [back]
- 15. President Benjamin Harrison
spent the summer of 1891 in a cottage at Cape May Point at the southern tip of
New Jersey; the cottage was a gift to Harrison's wife Caroline from the
mercantilist John Wanamaker of Philadelphia. Harrison used the Congress Hotel in
Cape May—a favorite vacation spot for former U.S. presidents—as the
first "summer White House," since the actual White House was undergoing
renovations involving the installation of electricity. [back]
- 16. The Costelloes were Benjamin
Francis ("Frank") Conn Costelloe (1854–1899) and Mary Whitall Smith
Costelloe (1864–1945). Frank was Mary's first husband, an English
barrister and Liberal Party politician. Mary was a political activist, art
historian, and critic, whom Whitman once called his "staunchest living woman
friend." For more information about her, see Christina Davey, "Costelloe, Mary Whitall Smith (1864–1945)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D.
Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 17. Whitman is referring to the family
of Robert Pearsall Smith (1827–1898). Smith, an evangelical minister, and
his wife Hannah Whitall Smith (1831–1911) had three children: Mary Whitall
Smith Costelloe (1864–1945), Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946), and
Alys Pearsall Smith (1867–1951). The Smith family were all friends and
supporters of Whitman. For more about the Smith family, see Christina Davey,
"Smith, Robert Pearsall (1827–1898)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]