Clearing up & sunshine as I write—good roots for the N Y show,2—(on which great calculations on)—Nothing new with me, nor better nor worse—no visitors or mail—pretty heavy dull day (but not at all on those acct's),—Am sitting here in the big bare-wood chair as usual—Best love—
Walt WhitmanCorrespondent:
William Douglas O'Connor
(1832–1889) was the author of the grand and grandiloquent Whitman pamphlet
The Good Gray Poet: A Vindication, published in 1866.
For more on Whitman's relationship with O'Connor, see Deshae E. Lott, "O'Connor, William Douglas (1832–1889)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998).