Walt Whitman to William D. O'Connor, 6 March 1889

Camden March 6 '891

Bright & sunny & just right temperature to-day—Dr B[ucke]2 has been in for half an hour—the prospects of the meter3 inauguration & practically being made & marketed are good—one thing & another delaying as was to be expected—but I guess it will all finále in an extensive accepted & actual & prosperous thing—So mote it be—Dr gave his piece (abt L of G &c) last evn'g to the "Ethical Society" Phila: marked success4—Not physical comfortable to-day, bad head & trouble with the spleen—still here in the big arm chair with the big wolfskin back—

Walt Whitman

N[elly]'s5 card came this P M6—

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Notes

• 1. This postal card is addressed: Wm D O'Connor | 1015 O Street N W | Washington | D C. It is postmarked: Camden, N.J. | Mar 6 | 8 PM | 89. [back]
• 2. 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). [back]
• 3. Bucke and his brother-in-law William John Gurd were designing a gas and fluid meter to be patented in Canada and sold in England. [back]
• 4. For an account of the lecture, see Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Wednesday, March 6, 1889. After reading Bucke's address Walt Whitman observed: "I must confess he has plastered it on pretty thick: . . . plastered it on not only a good deal more than I deserve but a good deal more than I like" (Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, March 7, 1889). [back]
• 5. 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]
• 6. Ellen O'Connor's card of March 5, 1889 acknowledged receipt of the copies of Complete Poems and Prose that Whitman had sent to the O'Connors. [back]