This morning I had occasion to call at the house of a Mr. William Brough, who lives in
a costly residence on Farragut Square and is a very pleasant, educated
man—evidently of wealth. I saw there on the wall of his parlor a fine, large
cut of yourself in a handsome frame. I found that he admired Drum-Taps syr_kc.00030_large.jpgvery much. I
mentioned the proposed pension for you, and he said that if you were in need of
assistance he thought there would be no trouble in raising a purse and that he would
be glad to take hold of the matter if it was thought advisable. If the pension is
not authorized I will see him again about the subscription.
Eldridge1 and O'Connor2 have gone to
California to syr_kc.00031_large.jpgthe
place where Dr. Channing3 resides, and have arrived
safely. I saw them off two weeks ago. O'Connor, I fear cannot hold out long, but his
place is kept open for him here. His trouble is induration of the spinal marrow.
I have been dropped out of the Govt. Service to make room for a Democrat and am
looking about here for something to do. syr_kc.00032_large.jpg I am thinking of starting a Bureau of
General Information. Literary, Scientific and Political, at the Capital of the
Nation. The only question is whether I can subsist till the Bureau becomes a paying
institution.
I enclose a paragraph I cut out of the Richmond Va. Times. Let me hear from you. Wishing you health and happiness and long life I am,
Yours sincerely Jos. B. MarvinCorrespondent:
Joseph B. Marvin, a friend and an
admirer of Whitman's poetry, was from 1866 to 1867 the co-editor of the Radical. He was then appointed as a clerk in the Treasury
Department in Washington, on behalf of which he took a trip to London in the
late fall of 1875. On October 19, 1875, Whitman
wrote a letter to William Michael Rossetti to announce a visit from Marvin.
Rossetti gave a dinner for Marvin, which was attended by the following "good
Whitmanites": Anne Gilchrist; Joseph Knight, editor of the London Sunday Times; Justin McCarthy, a novelist and writer for
the London Daily News; Edmund Gosse; and Rossetti's
father-in-law, Ford Madox
Brown.